Minutes of Mosaic Commons General Meeting
September 29, 3:30-6:30pm

Decisions:

• We will file a late return for our 2001 taxes along with a letter requesting a waiver of penalties."
• We will move forward with scheduling a full day conflict resolution workshop with Jerry Koch Gonzalez, and figure out the best way to structure this later.

Action Items:

Discussion:

1. Opening Activity: Go-around — All

Rosa lit the candle and explained its significance.

Opening question: "How was the site workshop for you?" or, if you were not there, "What’s one thing you’d like on a cohousing site?"

2. Review of colored cards and ground rules — Facil

Judy reviewed the card system and ground rules.

3. Announcements and approval of agenda — Facil

4. Review and approve minutes from previous meetings — Secretary — Information. 8/18 General Meeting, 9/9 Meeting with Chris, 9/14-15 Site Workshop minutes?, 9/19 Site Workshop Follow-up.

All minutes were approved; we did not vote on the Site Workshop minutes as they were taken by Mary and Laura.

5. 2001 LLC Taxes — Dwight or Sarah (See Dwight’s r ecent email and responses).

Dwight: In a nutshell, as an LLC if we have income, we have to pay taxes on it. The equity collected by the LLC is held in trust; the associate dues and profit on books sales forms the only source of our income. Because of the financial complexity of our situation, we are looking to utilize accountants throughout the life of this project. Associate dues can convert to working capital when those people become Equity members. We failed to file a return on time and thought that our accountants filed an extenstion that would be October 15^th, but that date was actually Sept 15^th. Our accountant failed to file for extensions with the state and the federal government on our behalf. Question: Should we forget about the 2001 taxes, or throw ourselves upon the mercy of the IRS and the Department of Revenue?. Dwight recommends the latter. Proposal: "We will file a late return for our 2001 taxes along with seeking a waiver of penalties." Passed.

6. Action Items — Marty, Joan

Marty–There was a proposal to add an unassigned category to the list of AI’s to make it easier for people looking for AI’s to find them. Steph–Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of AI’s? Cat–It seemed like it might be useful to sort these separately as AI’s become inactive when people drop an item, and when no one else picks it up in a meeting. Kim–I would like to see that category get tracked more closely and carefully. Roxanne–How about unassigned AI’s get brought up in a meeting? San–This is in part a Coordinating Team issue. This is one way to do it that allows us to organize more urgent items. Kai–I think we should post action items to the email list once a week so we don’t use meeting time for that.

7. Team/Committee Reports I, including Land/Site — Teams

Land/Site: Kai/Kim–We cannot discuss further details due to confidentiality. We have a site in Maynard on which we hav e conducted feasibility; we will probably pursue a 40B application and we are concerned about the support of the neighborhood group. Our new deadline for making a final decision about whether we want this property is Oct. 15^th. We have a verbal agreement from the owner of the property in Stow. Feasibility will be expensive, however, the terms of the agreement are financially favorable. There is also an opportunity to negotiate with the Town of Stow to rezone the property in exchange for a large parcel of this land. Backburner: Other sites in Stow and Lincoln. Meantime, we need to educate ourselves about the 40B process. We need to brainstorm electronically about the 40B process, and Kai will then draft of list of questions that we can bring to a 40B expert. We also need to finalize the project management contract with CHR. Last, there are deets we cannot talk about here, but even what I have shared here should not be discussed elsewhere. Kim–CSH said to me, "Now you are really going to have to learn to be patient." Please do not pressure me about things while we are in this waiting period. Dwight–We also need to finalize the Operating Agreement between the members. Kai has already worked hard on the draft of this.

8. Hot Topics: Pet Policy — Discussion of second draft of proposal. (See messages earlier this month re proposal and background).

Rosa--Reminder that a number of individuals have put an enormous amount of energy into this draft and if you are new, keep in mind that we don’t want to begin from square one. Rosa read the draft out loud (on back of paper copy of the agenda). Steph–Gave history on the pet policy issue. We are doing this b/c we saw a discussion on the national CH list and they recommended that new groups deal with this issue b/f they move in. We are trying to be proactive about dealing with Hot Topics; this is one of several we will be discussing. Cats in particular have been controversial. Catya–A number of communities are in terested in saving green space around them and the wildlife around them. One thing that caught my attention was a group that saved a wild song bird habitat, and then let their cats destroy that bird population. Marty–We might want to consider using lesser-used real estate, such as side yards, for cat enclosures. Judy–We’re getting stuck in details, and need to focus on general policy. Roxanne–One worry I have is allergies, and people with allergies would need to stay away from that space designated for cats. Diana–An enclosure is still an enclosure. John–I feel this policy will meet some of our needs; and that there isn’t much of a difference between being indoors or an enclosed area. Rosa–I propose: "Cats will be kept indoors or in designated enclosed spaces." Jen–Does this policy cover visiting pets? Roxanne–Dogs and cats who aren’t under direct control of their owners do not ask for condoms. Joan–Proposes that we restrict outdoor cats to two per household. Rosa–Do we want to have this discussion now? We are at time? Catya–How about we take Joan’s proposal to email and try to decide at next week’s meeting?

BREAK

9. And now for something completely different: "Big Wind Blows" — Rosa

10. Process Check-in

Kai–Reminds people to use the cards. Catya–There were no more Welcome kits in the box and they didn’t get handed out to the new people. I need to make more. San–We need a volunteer who could help clean up at the end. (Joan and Linda volunteered). Liz–As a new person, I didn’t understand what level of detail we were supposed to get into in the previous discussion. Kim–Did someone check in with Joan? Dwight–Encourages new people to speak up. Marsha–Is there a shortage of cards? Lisa–I really appreciated that Big Wind Blows activity from a community-building perspective.

11. Team/Committee Reports II

--Coordinating: Reminder: T here is a poll out for determining when we will next meet with CSH. Also, Lisa, we need to get your bio at the next meeting.

--Facilitation–Met last Monday. We have revised the relationship btwn the conflict resolution team and the facilitation team. They will now be separate teams. We also talked about how we deal with agenda items when the presenter is different from the facilitator; we ask that you please show your cards to the facilitator even when there is a presenter of a specific issue.

--Conflict resolution: Roxanne–We talked about the possibility of getting Jerry Koch Gonzalez to do a whole day workshop on conflict resolution. Roxanne is in correspondance with him. Catya–proposes: "We will move forward with scheduling a full day conflict resolution workshop with Jerry Koch Gonzalez, and figure out the best way to structure this later." Passed.

--Finance: Sarah–Please let me know of any expenses coming up that we know of so I can do a better job with budgeting. The Tresurer position is still open. Catya–We split the roles of bookkeeper and treasurer recently. Dwight–I feel strongly feel that the roles should be separate. Catya–As it stands, Sarah is in both roles, and the request is that someone take over the role of tresurer, correct?

--Membership–New people are needed on this cmte.

--Marketing–Joan–John is working on a press kit and marketing plan. This team could use help.

12. Ongoing Participation Guidelines — San

(Following on draft proposal, recent emails on topic).

Catya took notes directly on draft

13. Review/Establish time, place, agenda items General Meetings: 10/6, 10/20, 11/3, 11/17 — Intro Meetings:

10/20, 11/17

— CSH: in town 10/11-15; group mtg Sat 12th and/or Mon 14^th

— Socials: 10/5 Drumlin Farm (details TBD); 10/11 Campfire/Sing- along @ Steph & Dwight’s

Contact us! * Email info or webmaster

Last modified: October 7, 2002