Present: Jain, Maggie, Sam, Sara, Omo, Richard Tetley, Matthew Johnson, Fred, Kelsey, Karla, David Hoffman, Banjo Mike, Kavana (minutes).
Parking: Matthew says Diamond Parking is not authorized to issue citations (and if you tell them that they’ll back down and not issue a ticket), but they may tow you.
Fair Announcements
Board Election: Meeting this Sat night at the LCC Longhouse 6:30pm, includes candidates speaking. Hybrid meeting, can attend by Zoom. Ballots due by 8pm Sat Oct 21. Can be delivered to Fair office.
Elders invite everyone to a spirit walk Oct 28th at Fair site. Start with 3pm potluck at Alice’s, then later moonlight walk. If you email Lisa Cooley names of Fair people who have died and where they hung out, they’ll be included in the memorial, names will be called out when the walking group arrives at locations associated with specific people (Email: cooleylisa.reeferOCF@gmail.com).
Site Report (David)
Last he looked it was pretty good, mostly buttoned up. Big issue is the tree in Little Village. Leaning, hollow, dangerous, we’ve been talking about it, it’s been on tree crew list. Site Manager has been informed. Needs to be cut down to safe height. Council will continue to monitor the situation.
Emerald Ash Borer, we may lose a lot. Trees communicate and support each other in community, we don’t want a monoculture. Douglas Firs are dying in southern Oregon.
Sierra is no longer Site Manager, moved on to a position suited to her education in landscape, it was an amicable departure.
Hybrid Meetings (Sara)
Idea to alternate between in-person and online meetings, to welcome variety of participants. Initial proposal: Nov online, Jan in-person, Feb online, March TBD, April in-person, May hybrid, June Zoom, July on site.
UU church excellent for hybrid, had professional sound person from church plus 3-4 people from our facilitation team to do it really well; dedicated person with sound board and switching video (multiple cameras) works really well for remote participants. If we’re going to do hybrid, let’s do it really well; if not done well it’s very frustrating. Growers Market has good internet but not other facilities for amplication for everyone to be able to hear each other. Hybrid Meetings at UU were much appreciated, though it takes a lot of work; also very expensive: $650 last year for probably 3 meetings, spread out over time. Hybrid Council meeting at Omo’s people couldn’t hear each other, didn’t work well. Good camera allows for lip-reading access for people with hearing loss. Hybrid meetings take more energy, maybe keep it simple and don’t try to do it a lot.
UU rates: Sanctuary is $80, presentation sound set-up $75, Zoom portal $25. St. Mary’s might be less expensive, but that’s just for the space, not sure about Zoom set-up there. We left there in the past because they didn’t have the space for us, busy place. Sam (who is a member of UU church) says the church budget has shifted toward more rentals, hosting more family celebrations (weddings and quinceaneros). Staff at UU is really nice.
Last year’s in-person meetings were not as big as pre-Covid, not sure if attendance this year will be larger again or not. If you switch set-up from month to month, how keep the flow of people attending? Would need to have clear communication in advance as to which type of meeting when. Booth coordinators remind everyone. Agenda goes out ahead. (Note, Tim is in a transition time and is not sure where he’ll be in the future.)
Nov, Jan, Feb meetings are small. Bigger in March, giant in April & May, small in June, then large meeting on site in late June. Proposal: For the big meetings, do in person at big venue. Do 3 other meetings online only. And do small in-person meetings at smaller venue. Managing a hybrid meeting is really hard if you want full remote participation; “broadcast” meetings are easier than full participation for online participants. Or maybe do “chat”-only participation at a few hybrid’ish meetings. Jan should be in-person so that new people can meet folks in booths to try to get a spot. Diversity of opinion regarding recording meetings.
Decision: Nov online only; Jan in-person at Growers; Feb & Mar online only Zoom; April (only in-person) at UU; & May (full hybrid) at UU; early June in-town at Growers; late June on site. At the January meeting, experiment with hybrid from Growers; Banjo Mike and Richard would help set that up–might be participatory or might be broadcast-only, depending on their capacity.
Omo is standing aside from this decision, because “technology has taken over face-to-face. It was a great asset during Covid, but we’re beyond the [main] pandemic now. We’re bending over to do tech,” and while some folks can only participate remotely (e.g. Diane can’t drive at night), he would prefer to maintain in-person meetings rather than shift toward remote.
Amplified Music at Night in the Village (Jain)
Old decision was no amplified music at night in Village. Then about 10-20 years ago we agreed to allow Skeeter’s band to play one time. Bob stepped down and there was some confusion. In 2022, at 9pm an electric band started tuning up. Last year the same band revved up later, set up at 10pm and started at 11pm, and did not respond kindly to Jain’s request to not go too loud. To the band it was just a stage to amplify out into the whole fair, they were not attuned to nearby Village folks. Musicians have egos, many feel entitled and go as loud as they can, and sometimes bring their own electricity.
People have fond memories of Village coffeehouse with rotating performers, also acoustic circle Reba convened. People like after-hours music if the vibe is respectful and tuned in to our space, appropriate for the Village. The amplication was supposed to be, for example, so that one singer can be heard in the Village and not get drowned out by the surrounding fair. Desires to play amplified should be case-by-case. For example TR Kelley with tiny amp playing bass teaching people to sing was welcome.
Invite Plaedo to be part of this discussion before a decision is made, since he’s running the stage now at least in daytime. (Day-time music vibe is also a concern.) Village gets to set limits, bands can’t take over the stage unless it’s approved. We can also enforce permits, ask a band if they have one and if not turn them off. If we’re doing an after-hours thing ourselves, we’ll talk to the Fair about it.
Outcome:
- The Fair has limits on permits for music after hours. Someone on Council will tell the Fair not to give out Village permits unless we consent.
- In principle we support the idea of using decibel meters to establish clear limits based on time of evening. Will consider further to elaborate.
Change Meeting Date for 2024
Nathan from Fruit Booth wants to move it because he closes at Growers on Thursdays every other week and can’t attend. Defer until we check availability of venues.
Meeting Times
Nowadays 7-9pm. Some prefer earlier 6-8pm. Diane (not present) wishes it were earlier because has trouble driving at night. Awkward for some getting off from work and getting home and then going out again. Easier for old people if it were earlier, also for people with young kids who need to go to bed. During Zoom meetings people can eat or cook while attending, in-person is different. Decision: Send out a poll with options: 6-8pm, 6:30-8:30pm, 7-9pm. Ranked choice. Council will discuss next week to make it happen.
Stand for Council
David Hoffman, Karla, Banjo Mike, Diane, Omo, Tim, Nathan, Sam, Sara, and Kelsey (shadow). (There are others involved too, e.g. Lois is an Elder and former Council member who still helps sometimes with Council.) Here is a list of names and phone numbers, in case you have concerns with any of these individuals serving on Council:
Sam Rutledge 541-337-6970
Karla Claudell 541-337-5319
Sara Sweatt 541-554-2012
Diane Albino 541-954-4721
Nathan Georgitis 541-852-3163
Michael Omogrosso 541-844-8719
Tim Muller 541-521-7208
David Hoffman 541-484-9204
Banjo Mike 847-814-8863
Non-Fair Announcements
–KindTree Autism Rocks: Oct 30th 5:30-8pm Halloween disco ball costume party at Whirled Pies.
–Eclipse this Saturday. 9:18am peak. Library is giving out free glasses.
–Mushroom Festival is coming up at Mt. Pisgah last Oct 29th, have to buy tickets in advance, big show, very cool. Also David Arora will be speaking at the Fairgrounds the Fri evening before, free.
Community Village 