Alaska Creative Woodworkers association
 a club for carvers, scrollers, and woodworkers

ACWC Executive Board

Board Meeting Minutes

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ACWA Executive Board Meeting - 16 March 2026

The meeting was called to order at 6:00pm on March 16, 2026. The attendees included:
Cynthia Scott, President
Sandy McKinnis, Vice-President
Lisa Lackey, Treasurer
Tam Pikey, Webmaster/IT
Jim Powell, Member-at-Large
Tom Deal, Member-at-Large
Larry Hollman, former ACWA President
Cindy McDowell, 2026 Artistry in Wood Chairman

Cynthia reminded the board that the purpose of the executive board was to provide the
administrative structure needed to enable each individual club to foster and support
their memberships’ artistic activities, and reinforced the need for all to remain civil and
foster open communication during board meetings.
 

Since the Secretary was not present, Tom took the minutes.
 

Tam presented the January minutes, which were unanimously accepted.
 

Cynthia then proposed that since the board only meets four times a year, the minutes
should be reviewed and voted on via email so that they could be posted in a timely
manner for the membership. It was proposed that the meeting notes and schedule also
be posted in the Woodchip. The proposal was approved.
 

Cynthia asked Tam to coordinate with Ryan (Secretary) and Callie (Comms) to ensure
everyone was clear regarding their roles and responsibilities, and report the division of
effort to the board at the next meeting.
 

Lisa presented the Treasurer’s Report, and there were no questions regarding the
report. Lisa requested authorization to use her accounting software as it would be
easier for record keeping rather than using another off-the-shelf software; all agreed to
her request.
 

Sandy asked for clarification regarding donations given to the clubs or committees, and
all agreed any donations should be credited to the specific organization the donor
intended.
 

Lisa and Larry then brought up the issue regarding the ACWA post office box, and Larry
agreed to talk to the Post Office to uncover and possibly resolve the issue. Later it was
learned that the Post Office did not have a current POC, which caused the box to be
locked (unaccessible). Cynthia agreed to be the POC, and Tom has agreed to check the
box regularly to ensure that ACWA’s mail is picked up in a timely manner.

Cindy presented a recap of the 2026 Artistry in Wood (AIW) event, and highlighted that
approximately 2,000 visitors attended. Cindy also discussed the ongoing issues with
Midtown Mall, and all agreed that a new venue was needed. The board praised Cindy’s
leadership of the event.
 

The AIW chair presented the funds collected for Artistry in Wood. No contribution was
received from the Turners organization this year, compared to their $1,000 contribution
last year. The AIW chair shared that a contribution was not requested, as the
Turners are currently working toward purchasing a building.
 

A question arose regarding whether sellers had provided a financial contribution to AIW
or not. In previous years, the sellers had provided 5% of their sales to ACWA in addition
to the 10% the mall required. The board learned that the sellers had not been informed
of the requirement for a contribution to ACWA nor had any funds been collected from
them. The board agreed that all sellers should provide 5% for any sales in 2027, but
would not ask for any funds for 2026 due to the miscommunication.
 

Cynthia brought up the Membership Review that Jim and Tam had presented at
January’s meeting. The issue is that there are approximately 400 registered members,
but perhaps only 65-70 members are actually current on their dues. The other challenge
is that the WIX program only allows the Woodchip to be sent to 200 people/emails, and
Tam needs to do some creative maneuvers to get the newsletter out to all 400. Jim and
Cynthia agreed to work with Tam to review the membership lists and update them as
necessary. Tam also agreed to investigate the upgrade cost to enable WIX to send the
newsletter to a larger distro if necessary. The goal is to have the issue resolved prior to
the next meeting.
 

Jim provided the board with a recap for the bylaw review request, and highlighted the
specific area of concern, which involved the designation and election of the executive
board (Article 5 Section E). Jim proposed an addendum to the by-laws be created to
clarify the confusing section, and Cynthia agreed to help Jim draft possible wording.
 

The board agreed to schedule meeting dates for the next 12 months. The dates are:

May 21, 2026
October 15, 2026
January 21, 2027
March 18, 2027

After discovering that many of ACWA’s webpages had out-dated information, Cynthia
requested the club presidents and ACWA webpage owners review and update their
webpages, and then work with Tam to ensure everything was current on their respective
pages.
 

The topic of co-chairs for the State Fair and AIW 2027 led to a heated discussion.
Cynthia proposed that all the clubs should have representation, not only as co-chairmen
but also as event volunteers, including the state fair. While most agreed to the
suggestion, there was some dissension. Since the State Fair discussion was
contentious, the topic moved onto AIW 2027. Cynthia proposed Cindy continue as AIW
Chairman and Sandy serve as her co-chair. Cindy countered that she should pick her
co-chair, and ACWA should not be involved in the decision. Since no resolution was
agreed upon, the decision is still pending.
 

The meeting adjourned at 7:15pm.

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January 20th, 2026

 

Attendees: Alan Peck

Bob Lackey

Callie Ashcraft

Cynthia Scott

Cindy McDowell

Jim Powell

Larry Holman

Lisa Lackey

Bob Lackey

Tam Pikey

 

With new attendees the meeting started with introductions.

 

Old Business

• Treasurer report was submitted and accepted

 

• Membership clean up is pending - Assigned to Cynthia Scott, Jim Powell and Tam Pikey

 

• Development of a cloud storage (proposed google workspace) has been delayed - assigned to Tam Pikey

 

• Report of the current club insurance status was submitted

 

New Business

• Suggestion was made to:

  •  add some photos and a note in the next woodchip to try to gauge interest in restarting the scrollers branch of ACWA.

  • Carvers would like to update the content on the website.

 

• Artistry in Wood updates were submitted.

  • Of 1000 booklets printed over 900 have already been distributed

  • Turners have been notified and will be attending AIW.

  • Displays will be checked out for needed repairs before the event

    • Setup will begin February 14th

    • Entries can be submitted the 15th and 16th

    • Entries will need to be picked up March 12

  • To prevent loss of institutional knowledge about AIW, an standard operating procedure (SOP) is going to be developed.  Being worked on by Cindy McDowell and Cynthia Scott.  Jim Powell will provide a list of actions being taken for repairs/setup.

 

• ACWA Membership is currently a Family Membership which is defined as club member, spouse or significant other and minors that live in the same household.

 

• Discussion about the executive board president being given lifetime membership.  The board decided this will not be re-adopted.

 

• A rewrite of the ACWA bylaws has been suggested to make the executive board membership consist of Present, Vice President and one additional person from each branch of the club.

 

• Next board meeting will be 3/16/26 at 6pm.  At that time the new members of the executive board will start.

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