| New Material |
This report has three main sections.
The first is a chronological list (by the date of the original motion or fiat) of proposed changes to the Standing Rules to implement motions and fiats that have already been made; with the exception of two related motions, nothing in this section requires a vote by the Membership unless it wishes to modify some of the proposed changes. For some of these items, the "Proposed change" is "None". Our intention is to list everything which might require a change to the Standing Rules so that we (and everyone else who is interested) can consider whether or not each one should cause a change.
The second is everything adhering to the Treasurer's deceptively simple fiat: "Treasury procedures and the chart of accounts are at <http://www.nesfa.org/Treasury/>"; this includes two motions which must be passed by the E-Board, 8 motions which must be passed by the Membership, 3 proposed changes to the Standing Rules which do not require votes, an additional 6 updates to the annotations to various rules, and a plethora of changes to the material at <http://www.nesfa.org/Treasury/> which have been worked out between the Treasurer and the Rules Committee and are of no direct concern to the Membership.
The third section is a new motion proposed by the Rules Committee concerning the reading of motions, especially before a vote is taken.
Everything in those three sections is copied exactly from the new material page except for:
For the benefit of anyone maintaining a web page which needs to link to or quote from sections of the By-Laws and Standing Rules, we have recently added documentation on how best to do this to the entry page for the NESFA Code.
Moved that the "floor limit" for checks be set at $500 for all activities
where NESFA accepts checks. Further, let the people holding the offices of
Boskone Treasurer, NESFA Treasurer, Boskone Chairman, and NESFA President
constitute a committee, any one of whose members may approve checks up to
$1000, and any two of whose members acting together (including at least one
Treasurer) may approve checks up to $5000, and any three of whose members,
acting together, may authorize checks in any amount. Further, the NESFA
Executive Board may authorize checks in any amount.
Dave C. said proposed the motion to codify the current state of affairs
with a little bit of procedure around it. Davey wondered if this
codification could turn out to be more restrictive than planned by
requiring both the Boskone Treasurer and another authorized person to be
there to approve a check. Dave A. said you can pre-approve a list of
people who'll be paying with large checks. However, as stated, the motion
does present the situation of the Boskone chair and treasurer approving
NESFA checks.
MSP (MLO) to add "at Boskone" to limit this to Boskone.
Ben said this is unnecessary and quite reasonable.
The amended motion was passed.
Superseded 1/03. The reason for creating an "already-deleted" section is so that the final state of the Standing Rules will be the same as it would have been if all of these changes had been processed in a timely manner. Deleted sections appear throughout the Standing Rules, and the annotations there preserve parts of our history which would otherwise be lost.
Add new section 2.7(11)M: The floor limit for any activity at a Boskone where checks are accepted is $500. Any one of the Boskone Treasurer, the NESFA Treasurer, the Boskone Chair, and the NESFA President may approve checks of up to $1000. Any two of them acting together, provided that at least one is a Treasurer, may approve checks of up to $5000. Any three of them acting together, or the Executive Board, may approve checks in any amount. [9/96]
Add new section 2.7(11) with only this note: [Superseded by 1.3(3), 1/03. This section originally (9/96) laid out a procedure for approving checks at Boskone which was later decided to be over-complicated.]
MS (George Flynn) that we use Arabic numerals rather than Roman numerals
to refer to all future Boskones, and
MS (Priscilla Olson) that we reconsider after Boskone 49 (as "Boskone L"
would be cool), which was accepted by George as a friendly amendment.
Monty Wells declared the Boskone numbering system can go to L.
MSI [Moved, Seconded, and Ignored] (Mark Olson) to retroactively double the fun to
adequately punish that pun.
MSP (Mark Olson) to use Arabic numerals to refer to Boskones except when
the Roman numerals are too good to pass up (e.g., Boskone L).
The amended motion passed.
Add new section 1.9(21):
1.9(21)M Boskones shall be named using Arabic numerals except when the Roman numerals are too good to pass up. [4/97. An example of a Roman numeral which may be too good to pass up is "Boskone L".]
Rules: the By-Laws and Standing Rules are now on our website; this version is now the official source document
Modify SR 1.6(2) with insertions and
deletions as marked:
Append to the annotation 7/05: Distribute the Code via the website (at <http://www.nesfa.org/rules/>), in conformance with long-standing practice.
Delete SR 1.6(3). Retain the annotation, appending "Deleted 7/05, since distribution is now via the NESFA website. Formerly required that new members of certain classes be provided a copy of the Code."
MSP to replace the "floor limit" from IM 594 with "The NESFA Treasurer, with the approval of the Executive Board, shall set NESFA's check approval policy."
[Already in as SR 1.3(3). The change from IM 594 still needs to be added as a deleted section with appropriate annotations.]
MSH that Borders will be charged for replacement covers and for books returned in damaged condition. This will all be documented.
Add new section 4.2(15):
4.2(15)M Any customer which returns significant numbers of books which they have damaged will be charged for the damaged books and dustjackets which they return. Packages of returns from such customers will be photographed before and during unpacking to document the damage. [8/04. At this time, Borders is the only serious offender.]
MSH to authorize the President to appoint a committee to find a new offsite storage unit at a cost of up to $3600 per year plus $1000 for outfitting to store the items from our current storage unit in Natick and the George Flynn bequest.
None.
MSH to create the Clubhouse Fund, to gather money to be put toward the purchase of a new clubhouse.
Add new section 1.39:
1.39 The Clubhouse Fund
1.39(1)M The Clubhouse Fund holds monies which are dedicated to the purchase of a new clubhouse. [Established 10/04.]
MSH that all punfines go to the Clubhouse Fund.
Replace section 3.4(5), which is currently empty:
3.4(5)M All pun fines collected shall be credited to the Clubhouse Fund. [3/82, assigned pun fines to the Building Fund; 5/92, repealed -- that fund no longer exists; 10/04, assign pun fines to the Clubhouse Fund.]
MSH to identify valuable books in the clubhouse and sell them at a fair market value (provided that we can replace them with reading copies) with the proceeds going to the Clubhouse Fund; the E-Board will propose the mechanism to accomplish this.
Amend SR 1.20(15) with insertions as marked:
1.20(15)M Monies produced by the sale of Library books go to the Library Committee, except as provided in SR 1.20(24). [7/05, exception added; 3/87.]
Create new section 1.20(24):
1.20(24)M Valuable books in the collection shall be identified and sold at fair market value (provided that we can replace them with reading copies); the proceeds, minus the cost of acquiring reading copies, shall go to the Clubhouse Fund. The E-Board shall establish the mechanism to accomplish this. [7/05.]
Tim Szczesuil appointed as e-Commerce account contact.
None.
MS that it is the sense of the NESFA Membership that to encourage volunteers at Boskone, volunteers who work a sufficient amount of time will receive a free non-transferrable membership in the following Boskone.
The amount of time needed to qualify for the volunteer membership and the way that time is counted will be approved each year in the same manner as the Boskone budget.
Life Members who earn a volunteer membership may give it without charge to someone who would otherwise not have attended that Boskone.
Boskone shall budget for these volunteer memberships by taking the actual number of free volunteer memberships used at the previous Boskone and multiplying it by the lowest generally-available rate for the current Boskone. Boskone 43 shall base its budget on the number of free volunteer memberships given out by Boskone 42.
A friendly amendment to explicitly include committee and staff members was accepted.
The amended motion passed.
Create new section 1.9(18):
1.9(18)M To encourage volunteering at Boskone, anyone (including Committee, Staff, people with non-paid memberships, and non-members) who works on the convention for a sufficent amount of time will be given a free non-transferrable membership in the following Boskone. [11/04.]
(a) For each Boskone, the definition of a sufficient amount of time will be proposed by the Boskone Chair and approved by the Membership. It may include multipliers for time worked during periods when it is especially difficult to attract volunteers.
(b) Notwithstanding that these memberships are generally not transferrable, a Life Member who earns a volunteer membership may give it to someone who would not otherwise have attended that Boskone.
(c) Each Boskone shall budget for these memberships by multiplying the number of such memberships actually used at the previous Boskone by the lowest generally-available pre-registration rate for the current Boskone. (Boskone 43 shall use the number of volunteer memberships given out at Boskone 42, since there were not yet any available to be used there.)
Sharon Sbarsky appointed to deal with Miva Merchant software administration.
None.
MSP to authorize up to $100 upon consultation with our neighbors to post a sign in the parking lot stating that parking is authorized only and violators will be towed at their own expense as is consistent with current laws.
None. [See also SR 1.5(4).]
MSP (Finance Committee) that the Boskone Treasurer shall not use the same checking account in any two consecutive years.
The initial idea was to generalize this (along the lines of "No Boskone may use any bank or other financial account which is also in use by any other entity. An account is in use by an entity from the time of its first transaction against that account until the time of its last transaction against that account, and thereafter until all such transactions have been properly recorded and reconciled in the books (if any) of that entity."), but the Finance Committee has stated that it prefers the original text.
Add new section 2.7(13)M:
2.7(13)M Consecutive Boskones shall not use the same checking account. [5/05. Recommended by the Finance Committee, to avoid the confusion which occurs if at any time more than one Boskone is financially active on the same account.]
MSP to let Dave Grubbs use his judgement [regarding Boskone volunteer roll-over memberships] which should be liberally construed in regards to roll over life memberships and to keep track of his decisions. (The club will reconsider the policy at some point after it has more data.)
Add new section 1.9(19):
1.9(19)M Each Boskone Pre-Registration head should use his or her judgement in deciding who should be allowed to receive volunteer memberships from Life Members under SR 1.9(18)(b). They are directed to construe the rules liberally and to keep track of their decisions. The club will reconsider this policy after it has more data. [5/05.]
MSP2/3 to cover the room, transportation, and membership cost for NESFA Press guests.
The benefits are identical to those for the Hal Clement Science Speaker in SR 1.38(1), except that 'incidental' costs were omitted. This seems wrong, so incidental costs have been added to the proposed change.
Add new section 1.37(2)M:
1.37(2)M Each guest will be given a Boskone membership (unless they are already a life member), and will be reimbursed for their travel, lodging, and incidental costs. [6/05]
Treasury procedures and the chart of accounts are at <http://www.nesfa.org/Treasury/>.
This set of information is sufficiently large, complex, needing completion, and subject to change that it's not a good candidate for direct inclusion in the standing rules. It should be included by reference, and some existing related Standing Rules sections should be modified or deleted. Several items that are currently Treasurer fiats really should be 'M' rules; motions to correct this are among those which appear under the heading "Proposed changes that must be passed by the Membership". [This material has been revised based on comments from the recent and current Treasurers. Since the current Treasurer does not object, the changes listed under the heading "Proposed changes to www.nesfa.org/Treasury/..." will be made by the Rules Committee at the same time as it makes the changes to the Standing Rules.]
Clarify SR 1.9(4) by amending it with insertions as marked:
Append to the annotation 7/05: name the fund (it's been referred to by name for years, but the name was never defined).
Amend SR 1.9(6) with deletions and
insertions as marked:
Append to the annotation 7/05: Make the internal cost of a Boskone Life Membership the same as the external price and state that all Guests of Honor of a Boskone will be given Boskone Life Memberships; both changes are to conform to long-standing practice. Quoted in /Treasury/BoskoneLifeMemberships.htm.
Amend SR 1.9(7) with deletions and
insertions as marked:
Append to the annotation 7/05: State that all Guests of Honor of a Boskone will be given NESFA Honorary memberships; this change is to conform to long-standing practice. Quoted in /Treasury/BoskoneLifeMemberships.htm.
Add new section 1.9(20):
1.9(20)M The Guests of Honor for a Boskone are those few people who are being honored for their activities related to SF and/or fandom, usually an author, an artist, and a "Special Guest". The Featured Filker(s), Hal Clement Science Speaker, NESFA Press Guest(s), ordinary program participants, etc. are not Guests of Honor. [7/05: Documents long-standing practice.]
Add new section 2.1(8):
2.1(8)M Every year there shall be transferred from the NESFA Life Memberships liability account to the dues-income account the Subscribing Member dues rate times the number of NESFA Life Members, except that the transfer shall not exceed the interest accrued during the year on the NESFA Life Memberships liability account. [7/05: Added to conform to long-standing practice. Quoted in /Treasury/LifeMembershipsAnnual.htm.]
Move 2.5(5)(a) to new section 2.5(7), amending it
with insertions and deletions as marked (the table is also an
addition), and leaving only the note [7/05: Moved to
2.5(7), updated, and made an 'M' rule.] at 2.5(5)(a).
2.5(7)M The NESFA fiscal year begins on 1
May and ends on 30 April of the following calendar year. Reports are by calendar
month. NESFA Fiscal Years are numbered starting when NESFA was founded,
so the fiscal year number is the calendar year during which the fiscal year started minus
1966 (e.g., the The fiscal year beginning 1 May 1982 and ending 30 April
1983 is has been arbitrarily designated Fiscal Year 16).
Fiscal quarters are May-July, August-October, November-January, and February-April.
| FY | +0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 | +8 | +9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0+ | - | 1967-68 | 1968-69 | 1969-70 | 1970-71 | 1971-72 | 1972-73 | 1973-74 | 1974-75 | 1975-76 |
| 10+ | 1976-77 | 1977-78 | 1978-79 | 1979-80 | 1980-81 | 1981-82 | 1982-83 | 1983-84 | 1984-85 | 1985-86 |
| 20+ | 1986-87 | 1987-88 | 1988-89 | 1989-90 | 1990-91 | 1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 |
| 30+ | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| 40+ | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
Annotate 2.5(7) with [11/83: Originally a Treasurer fiat as 2.5(5)(a). 7/05: Moved, updated, and made an 'M' rule.]
Move 2.5(5)(b) to new section 2.5(8), amending it
with insertions and deletions as marked, and leaving only the note
[7/05: Moved to 2.5(8), updated, and made an 'M'
rule.] at 2.5(5)(b).
2.5(8)M The Boskone which occurs
during FY fiscal year N is recorded in the
NESFA books when it produces its final report during FY
fiscal year N+1. A Boskone typically
reports during the period of September-December following the convention.
Annotate 2.5(8) with [11/83: Originally a Treasurer fiat as 2.5(5)(b). 7/05: Moved, updated, and made an 'M' rule. Quoted in /Treasury/BoskoneClosingBooks.htm.] The deleted sentence will be added to the material at /Treasury/.
Move 2.5(5)(d) to new section 2.5(9), leaving only the note [7/05: Moved to 2.5(9) and made an 'M' rule.] at 2.5(5)(d).
2.5(9)M Interest on internal accounts (e.g., Boskone and NESFA Life; Boskone advances) will be paid at a fixed rate which will be determined from time to time by the NESFA Treasurer and which will roughly reflect the average interest earned by all of NESFA's interest-bearing accounts.
Annotate 2.5(9) with [9/90: Originally a Treasurer fiat as 2.5(5)(d). 7/05: Moved and made an 'M' rule. Quoted in /Treasury/LifeMembershipsAnnual.htm.]
Delete the first sentence of 2.5(4)(c), "Publications are expensed upon publication," and add this annotation: [7/05: Delete the requirement to expense publications, to conform to actual practice – most publications have been capitalized for many years.]
Modify SR 2.7(7)(a) with insertions and
deletions as marked:
Add an annotation: [7/05: Change from 20% of purchase cost to 20% of depreciated value, to conform to long-standing practice. Quoted in /Treasury/BoskoneEquipmentRental.htm.]
Append to the annotation for SR 1.9(3) Quoted in /Treasury/BoskoneLifeMemberships.htm.
Append to the annotation for SR 1.9(5) Quoted in /Treasury/BoskoneLifeMemberships.htm.
In the annotation after SR 1.9(7) delete the first sentence ("The Rules Committee interprets Sections 1.9(6) and 1.9(7) as requiring the purchase of a single Boskone Life Membership and NESFA honorary membership for each Boskone's Guest of Honor, but not forbidding more than one such purchase by a given Boskone."), since SR 1.9(6) and 1.9(7) now mention all Guests of Honor.
Change the beginning of the last sentence of the annotation following SR 2.3(7) from "See the Chart of Accounts in Section 2.5(6)" to "See the Chart of Accounts (see also SR 2.5(10))".
Delete 2.5(5)(c), leaving only this note: [Deleted 7/05. This section described payment of royalties. (See SR 2.5(10).)] Payment of royalties is now documented in the material at <http://www.nesfa.org/Treasury/>.
Delete 2.5(6), leaving only this note: [Deleted 7/05. This section contained the Chart of Accounts. The original version passed in 1/86 as an E rule; after it fell badly out of date, the Chart of Accounts was updated and reduced to a Treasurer's fiat in 4/92. (See SR 2.5(10).)] The Chart of Accounts is now documented in the material at <http://www.nesfa.org/Treasury/>.
Add new section 2.5(10)F:
2.5(10)F Treasurer: The Chart of Accounts and descriptions of many Treasury procedures are maintained by the Treasurer at <http://www.nesfa.org/Treasury/>. [7/05]
Append to the annotation for 2.7(7)(b) Quoted in /Treasury/AutomaticMonthlyTransactions.htm.
Append to the annotation for 2.7(9) Quoted in /Treasury/AutomaticMonthlyTransactions.htm.
Life memberships in Boskone provide a completely paid-up membership in Boskone for
the rest of the owner's life. They can be purchased by anyone at the rate specified
in SR 1.9(3). 14 times the lowest rate
charged for the current Boskone. (In general, this is 14 times the
rate charged to join the current Boskone at the previous Boskone.) Additionally, they
are customarily purchased by each Boskone for its Guests of Honor
at the rate specified in SR 1.9(6). (In general, this is
the same price.)
Also modify the list of transactions with insertions and deletions
as marked:
As part of the process of settling up a Boskone, two three
transactions are performed:
The current Boskone is credited with membership income from the Boskone Life
account which reflects the membership costs for the Life Members who attended, in
accordance with SR 2.7(8)E, in the amount of.
In 1.9(5)M the NESFA Rules say that "Every year there shall be transferred from the Life
Membership fund to the Boskone fund the Boskone preregistration fee times the
approximate number of Life Members attending the con who are not receiving a free
membership, except that the transfer shall not exceed the interest accrued during the
year on the Life Membership fund." In practice this is nearly always limited by
the interest earned.
The current Boskone is charged for three a Boskone Life
memberships membership for each of its Guests of
Honor, in accordance with SR 1.9(6).
The current Boskone is charged for a NESFA honorary life membership for each of its Guests of Honor, in accordance with SR 1.9(7).
Modify BoskoneEquipmentRental.htm with insertions as marked:
Boskone is charged 20% of the depreciated value of all NESFA equipment as of the end of Boskone in accordance with SR 2.7(7)(a). Make sure that the date is set to the month in which Boskone occurred, run the report (Reports/Financial Statements/Depreciation detail report) and charge Boskone 20% of the line "Net current value of equipment".
Boskone pays NESFA $300/month for its use of the Clubhouse in accordance with SR 2.7(7)(b). Debit the AS-Bnn cross-charge account and credit the IN-Boskone account. Because this is a purely internal transaction, this is not rental income for tax purposes. The Boskone CH rental is always to the Boskone held that fiscal year (see SR 2.7(9)), so from 1 May 2002 to 30 April 2003, the CH charge is to Boskone 40 held in February 2003, and on 1 May 2003 it switches to B41 which will be held in February 2004.
In addition, in accordance with SR 2.1(8),
apply the Boskone life membership rule (In 1.9(5)M the NESFA Rules say
that "Every year there shall be transferred from the Life Membership fund to the Boskone
fund the Boskone preregistration fee times the approximate number of Life Members
attending the con who are not receiving a free membership, except that the transfer
shall not exceed the interest accrued during the year on the Life Membership fund."
In practice this is nearly always limited by the interest earned.) to transfer an
amount equal to the Subscribing Member dues rate times the number of NESFA Life
Members (except that the transfer shall not exceed the interest accrued during the year
on the NESFA Life Memberships liability account) from the NESFA Life memberships
liability account to the IN-IM account, which represents the payment of dues for NESFA
Life members for the year. Instead of the preregistration fee, the NESFA
subscribing member dues is used.
NESFA has a long and inglorious history of less than perfect transcription of motions, as exemplified by a recent case where several people's memory of a motion as made and approved differs significantly from the motion as recorded in the minutes of the meeting which approved it. In the hope of minimizing future problems of this sort, the Rules Committee proposes this new Standing Rule.
Add new section 3.2(6):
3.2(6)M Immediately before any vote is taken, and at other reasonable times when requested by a Member, the Clerk shall read the motion under consideration exactly as it is written in his or her notes. The text of the motion as reported in the minutes of the meeting shall exactly match those notes read immediately before the vote on that motion. [7/05. This is intended both to remind the Membership of precisely what they are debating and voting on, and to provide an opportunity to discover and correct any transcription errors in a timely manner.]
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