Document:LNC Minutes 11-12 August 1990: Difference between revisions

He proposed the database be reduced in size by removing people who have not contributed in three years, and people who have never contributed after one year.  These names would be saved on diskette.

Objections were raised that this would mean we are not treating "instant" members as real members, that there is a resolution requiring that we keep a count of such people, and that these names may be useful for prospecting. It was pointed out that the names could be retrieved if necessary, and that we could keep track of how many names were archived if we wanted to include them in a membership count. O'Brien said that the issue of exactly where the names are stored should be left to the  Management Committee. In response  to a

question from Alexander,  Dunbar said that transaction records for removed people are archived.

Alexander moved that we adopt the procedure specified by Dunbar in his Director's Report. In response to a  question from Ahmad, Dunbar said that some "instant" members had been removed from the database. Walter suggested that we should keep names for a longer period because of the presidential election cycle.  There was some discussion of the difficulty of maintaining a meaningful total that would include people who have been removed if they later reappear with a new address.

After various friendly amendments, the wording under consideration became:  "Member names are archived offline after  5 years of inactivity, except life members.  Statistics  regarding  types  and numbers  of  members  archived  will  be  kept  but  not  included  in membership totals." Ahmad moved to divide the question. The first and second parts both passed on voice votes.

Dunbar suggested changing the name of the lowest dues category from "contributing" to "subscribing".  He praised the interns who worked in the office during the summer. In response to a question from Black, he said that the mailing list for the [[LP News]] is produced by the office each month.

Dunbar and Thies reviewed our options when the office lease expires at the end of the year [Attachment K].  Dunbar said he was not satisfied with the layout of the current office, which was intended as a residence, and said we would be better off with either standard office space or a house to which we would be permitted to make modifications. Discussion of the  possibilities followed, with  points including  the cost of moving, the expected rent on the current space, uncertainty of our future  needs,  the  cost  of  renovation  vs.  getting  something

suitable in the first place, and safety problems in the current location.

Thies moved "The  Executive Committee is  authorized to  relocate  the National Office within  Washington,  D.C.,  in  conjunction  with  the expiration of our  current lease, if  such a relocation would  in  its opinion  constitute  a  significant  improvement  at  a  cost  not significantly greater than  a renewed lease  would cost."  The motion passed on a voice vote.

Thies moved "The  Executive Committee is  authorized to enter  into  a transaction on behalf  of the Party  to purchase a building  or  space within a building within Washington, DC, for the purpose of relocating our  National  Office  thereto,  and  to  enter  into  a  mortgage  in conjunction with this  purchase, if such  a relocation  would  in  its opinion be at  least comparable to  our present location,  and  if  at least one-half of the cash required for the downpayment is raised by a special fundraising effort  in contributions of $1,000 or more and the

balance of  the  cash  required  for  the  downpayment  is  raised  by unsecured loans from  individuals  making  said  contributions  at  an annual interest rate of no more than 12 percent."

Givot moved to remove the limit of $1000 and to delete the words "from individuals making said contributions".  Thies explained that his intent was to tie the hands of the fundraisers to prevent interference with normal fundraising, and that more money might even be raised that way.

Ahmad moved to substitute for Givot's amendment that the text between "our present location"  and "and the balance" be replaced with "and if at least 10%  of the purchase price is raised through a special fundraising effort". There was a discussion of how much of this should be left to the discretion of the Executive Committee and of whether it might be better to just wait another year.