Minutes for May 2013

Attendance

Present: Abigail, Micheal, Kevin, Laura, Jen, Celia
Absent:  Katey, Paula

Discussion

• After trying Sunday evenings for last two meetings, we're going to go back to Mondays for the next meeting.

• All co-op members are encouraged to reach out to anyone who might be a good fit for recruitment.  New recruits should be invited to the next meeting (in July).
• All co-op members, but especially those with negative points, are encouraged to offer up a time when you can sit for someone else.  If you are free some night, weekend, etc and want to shoot out an email letting members know -- maybe someone can take you up on the offer.
• Facilitators will now work for four months instead of three, to allow them to chair two consecutive meetings.  Points reward for facilitation will be 5 points per 4 months.

Roles

• Kevin T. will take over blogging from Laura effective July 1st, through the end of December.
• Laura will take over facilitation from Abigail for June through September.  Celia is next in the rotation and will take over facilitation starting in October.

Upcoming Meetings

• Co-op social:  Saturday June 22nd, 11:00 pm, 45th St. playground
• Next meeting:  Monday July 22nd, 8:00 pm

Meeting Minutes for Sept. 19, 2011

Present: Eric, Celia, Jen, Ginny (secretary), Katey, Laura (leader and minutes writer)
Absent: Kate TT (fined two points)

1. We discussed Karen's departure from the group and a stupid accounting error that I, Laura, did. The upshot of that was that we used 10 points from the bank to balance out Karen's points. All members agreed to this, and we will also disperse the remaining points from the bank next time we can do it without fractions.

2. The question "how is the co-op working for you?" on the table. There have been a lot of changes for families and the group itself (people leaving and returning from work, children going to school full-time, etc) and with Karen's departure it seemed like a good time to recalibrate. Answers ranged from "it could be better" to "too unclear to tell right now, ask again later."

3. Given that there is room for improvement, it looks as if we will be not starting a recruitment drive so much as asking around. Recruitment is headed up by the Leader, but as we're a co-op and these things are dynamic based on you and who you know, we should all be scouting potential victims and chatting them up subtly. If you know anyone who you think would work well in the group, and whose children would, please let them know and refer them to our public website for interested potential members. http://babysittingcoopinfo.blogspot.com/ Potential recruits named were Abigail, the Dads, and Allura. Start networking/chatting! Workable geography is helpful - Jackson Heights is, sadly, probably a bit far.

4. Basic reminders to everyone went about responding to sit requests in a timelier fashion, as we've all be dragging a little on it. Please remember to leave a comment in the sit request when you are responding "undecided" so that it's clear you've responded.

5. We postponed any major conversations or decisions about reducing our "administrative costs" by eliminating a secretary, but we did basically all agree that our goal wouldn't be to be to ditch the person who oversees/cheerleads/facilitates so much as merge that position in with the Leader's. Laura promised to have more concrete proposals on the table by the next meeting. That is good, because after Ginny finishes her term at the end of October, we have no more secretaries scheduled. If we follow precedent, it will revert back to oldest-serving member first, so the new cycle would be two month consecutive stints in this order: Eric, Celia, Jen, Katey, Kate, Laura (I can't do it between Eric and Celia b/c I will still be leader then.)

6. Small note: please remove Karen from your buddy list in 30boxes, to avoid confusion.

7. The next meeting is slated for Monday, Nov. 21, which is Thanksgiving week. Please note it in your calendars now, as it will likely be a busy time for us all.

Meeting minutes for Monday Nov 15 2010

There was one issue on the table: recruiting new members, Katey (mother of Adela, currently 1) and Ginny (mother of Owen, age 3)
We explained how we work in detail, fielded questions, and got to know each other. I think we liked them and they liked us, let's work on next steps!
Celia, do you want to follow up with Ginny to confirm that she would like to join, and I can follow up w/ Katey, or do you want to do both at once? Or would you like someone else to do it?

Assuming their answer is yes, we need to perform a safety check of their homes (to check for meth labs, guns, etc), get a medical authorization forms from them, and I'll need to rejigger the back end (stfu eric!) of the forms and blogs to add them in. THis will take a little time so I would prefer to not do the safety check.

Item: Karen is considering re-entering the co-op (yay!)

Also, because we've had a fairly dramatic past 6 months, we've never had a chance to review some bookkeeping changes I am proposing. Instead of a leader book, we'd have a participant info sheet (which I will password protect once I build it for real)
and we'd enter new members via the new member form, that feeds the participant info sheet. I have medical authorization forms on my computer and will figure out how to incorporate them into the blog while still keeping our info private.

Jen, sorry for the all caps, but PLEASE VERIFY THE OCTOBER SITS BY THIS WEEKEND. It will take you five minutes and it will lower my blood pressure.

I think we should remain hunkered down in hibernation mode until the new members are on board and in the system. We can assign roles and responsibilities for the year ahead at our next meeting in January, and I will continue to function as unpaid secretary until then. Hibernation mode includes not worrying about the non-use rule, ignoring social events, and not having an official leader.

Reminder that I will be paid blogmeister points in December. Karen was to have been paid leader points in December, too. Since basically Celia and I have been sharing that role and driving recruitment, I think we should split those points, but we could do it at a discount. Any thoughts on that?

Finally, we have an open house playdate on the Friday at 3:30. It's supposed to be cold but sunny so we'll probably be okay on the playground. I have a different new recruit, Houda, with a 4 yo daughter named Hajar - friends of Jojo's from 70. I'd say chances are fairly low that she'll want to join, as she already has an extensive network here, but you never know, and Houda's a hoot.

Would be so nice if we could carry on a discussion in the comments section instead of cluttering up our emails!

PS Update: Yet *another* potential member, Kate! She's not far from BG. We'll let you know.
PPSS: Kate#2 is interested! (Obviously I need to get people's names figured out.)

Minutes to 1/18 Co-Op meeting

(Forgive the rather dull, outline format. Supreme Overlord, please feel free to add entertaining commentary.)

I. Revisited discussion of the need to add to members:
A. Confirmed the desire to add one family ASAP and ideally add a second one soon.
Karen reported that Melissa (William’s mom) didn’t think it would work well for them, but that Gia and Layla (Ian’s parents) had expressed some interest. Karen said that she would follow-up with them when the opportunity arrived and encouraged others to do so as well.

B. We discussed whether we should do some broad outreach via various Queens listservs/message boards, but there seemed to be a greater comfort within the group to working our own networks, so that people started the discussion pre-vetted. Everyone was encouraged to consider their contacts outside of Blvd Gardens, and Jen said she had some friends in Jackson Heights/Woodside who might be interested.

C. Karen also reintroduced the need to do some more social activities as a group so that everyone could get comfortable with each other and new members could be introduced. Laura pointed out that activities could be informal, such as a craft day, and didn’t always need to require an outing.

II. Strategies for improving and streamlining the “bookkeeping” system

A. Because of errors that occurred over the course of 2009, the secretary’s book required a major audit, which Celia managed successfully. The issue was no single problem, but an accumulation of problem’s that made things tricky to untangle. As a result, it was agreed that “the book” (real or virtual) would not be passed to a new secretary if it didn’t balance, without the leader’s review and approval.

B. To help minimize human error while at the same time making the secretary responsibilities more manageable, Laura voluntarily researched different online options for automating the process. Laura reported that she reviewed four online options, all of which had various pros and cons, but based on her research recommended an individualized blog that would cost the group nothing. Laura set up a model, which she introduced to the group and that can be accessed at: http://thebabysittersclub3000.blogspot.com/

C. Based on the group’s initial enthusiasm, it was decided that for at least one, and likely two, trial months the sits would be logged in both the hard copy secretary book AND the new online blog log, while the group becomes accustomed to the new system and decides whether to fully adopt it.

D. To help work out initial kinks, it was decided that Laura would be the secretary in February and Eric in March.

E. Laura also volunteered to walk people through the blog in small groups if they’re not comfortable doing so on their own.

F. The March co-op meeting will include a complete review of the new system and a discussion of what new policies/roles might need to be spelled out.