The meeting was held at Connie's house on March 8, 2004

Attendees at the meeting:

• Anne Merkle
• Dianne Britton
• Connie Robinette
• John Wetzel
• Nancy Stone-Collum
• Fred Drusakis (via telephone link)

Connie reported that she had checked with officials at Logan School for it's possible use as a venue.  She reported that facility is not available to us.

The minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and approved.

Fred's draft letter to the mayor, about our current venue, although apparently lost, was discovered still to exist in the form of emails to various members of the board.  Connie will supply copies of the draft letter to Dianne, to be distributed for comment, editing and ultimately to be sent to the mayor.

John Wetzel delivered a report on the building owned by the Columbia Music Festival Association, reporting that this venue has some good possibilities, plus some obvious problems that would need to be solved.  The board decided informally that as many of us as can will visit the site and we can then discuss
it further at future meetings.

John reported that the possible venue near the SCDOT building in columbia was not suitable as a dance venue.

There was some discussion of a grant application to be directed at the Richland-Lexington cultural council.

The fact that Glenn has resigned from the board is hereby entered into the written record.

The board discussed the makeup of the nominating committee, and the number of offices for which nominations would be needed, ie, four officers, and between zero and five members-at-large.

The current financial report was presented by Nancey, and reviewed.Current cash-on-hand as of this meeting is $279.25

The possibility of reimbursing Connie for her many long distance calls was discussed.  Also discussed was the possibility of providing her with a paid calling card specifically for long distance calls to bands and callers (ie, for calls that ought rightly to be paid for out of COTMD funds).

The generation of a mission statement, to be used for grant applications and other documents was discussed by the board.  The board informally decided that Anne and John would work on generating draft versions of the organizations mission statement, for later review by the board.

John is to take the "first stab" at filling out the Columbia city grant application.

Nancy and Dianne will comprise this year's nominating committee.  The election will be held, as it was last year, at the May dance.  An announcement will be made at the April dance.

The meeting was adjourned, the goodies provided by Connie having been thoroughly sampled and enjoyed!
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