O/D Meeting 7/21/2020

Agenda

COVID-19

• Space Report
  • Supply report
  • Current state of the space
  • Developments
• The "New Normal"

Bridgeport Mill

• Findings to Date
• Next Steps

Minutes

July 21, 2020

tl;dr: Jim covers financials; we're in good shape Covid-19 compliance and supplies discussed discussed membership and whether it's feasible to add new members discussed going virtual and ways to have an online presence discussed Patrick's solution and the FAP for equipment for moving the Bridgeport took a vote to authorize that expenditure according to the FAP nothing on the round table, meeting adjourns 10:06 pm Andy asks if he can bring one of the Prusas home to work on it

July 21, 2020 LVL1 board meeting, via Zoom

attendees: Charles, Danielle, Jim, Tiffany, Madeline, Raj, Paul G, Andy, and his friend Sandy.

begin approximately 9:09 pm

Charles: Start with Jim and financials.

Jim: Page 1. We're hoping rent will stay the same at 1,500/mo. Spoke with Mr. Johnson about MeetUp; we thought it was 99/year, but it turns out it's twice a year, $99 every 6 months.

Insurance went up to $134; so, from 128 to 134. It was automatically deducted.

CC processing is down, it's 124.50. One paypal payment of 6.99. The rest was on checking. We are down to 7 members on paypal; Jose suspended his membership.

Page 2. June was a little up, but pretty close to May. Expenses were down. I reimbursed Raj for some things. I ordered a whole bunch of supplies, about $200.00; we were out of forks, paper towels, and everything. I'll bring it down and stuff it in the closet.

Makership fund is up to $2,110. Still have a few bucks in the HBA grant and the hat grant. Emergency reserve is up to $9,138, and I am holding back some funds. We have just over 20,000 available. Reserve is just enough for a few months of costs.

Page 3, we've got the income from paypal. Republic Bank was 3350, and then in June we still had 8 members on paypal and one cash member.

Recurring expenses from the other page is 2351. We ordered some stuff on Amazon. Expenses total of $2459. I think that's it.

I put footnotes on Page 2 about operating budget. It is from January 22nd when we approve it to January 22nd of the next year. I'm doing this on a calendar year, though. The SBA grant is down because of the 1950 we used to fix the laser. And we have a FAP right now, that I think is an excellent idea. And we're pretty flush unless we have a big exit of members.

My membership puts us at 76, a few have dropped off. A couple haven't responded; their payments didn't go through, so I didn't count them. So, we could have 78.

Any questions? Anything? There are no questions.

Now that the Wiki is fixed -- the taxes are filed, and I'll post them on the Wiki.

Charles: Thank you, Jim. Next on the agenda is the ongoing Covid 19. Danielle first then we'll have a discussion about the next agenda point.

Danielle: While we're dealing with Covid, I thought we'd have the financial report then an ongoing Covid report.

We need an assessment of what supplies, the list that makes up our compliance things we're requiring, masks, etc. I went to the space today, and did a brief inventory. We have one box of masks. A lot of the regular cleaning --

Jim: The big supply order I did, Raj had ordered some masks and I reimbursed him, and I ordered three boxes of 50. So when I get down there, I'll bring them. Paper towels. I can't find wipes anywhere.

Danielle: List of what we have: That box of masks. There were 6 containers of wipes. 4 were full and 2 were half-used.

Raj: I dropped all that stuff this past week. The box of masks and some cleaning solution, a couple of weeks ago. The wipes, I got lucky at the store, and so I put one on each table.

Danielle: In the cleaning closet, there is a box of unopened Clorox wipes. Maybe 3 cans or something. Might have been from when Brian was -- or maybe Andy ordered it.

Andy: I ordered that. That's been in there for a year at least, now. I stashed 3 in the closet.

Danielle: So, we're good on that for a while. The thermometer is still there, and working fine. Some hand sanitizer. And spray bottles of cleaner, but there were no paper towels next to the. I found a couple rolls and put out. So a replenishment will be good.

Found at Kroger, 50 multipurpose alcohol wipes, but they were expensive. Good for hands, surfaces, unlike the Clorox wipes, which are not appropriate for hands. But these are good for anything. 75% alcohol. Could use on laser, computers, surfaces, etc.

The space was not trashed. It was its usual level of general messiness, but not a nightmare mess, no apocalypse, nothing like that. It was fine, just usual.

Want to make sure we're checking in and keeping up with what's going on down at the space so we can make sure it's up to speed and that we're good. We just need a general keeping on top of things, of what we expect from people. Want some obvious stations, signs, stuff like that.

Tiffany: I think we should have it printed and on the door, as well, or something. Like, it needs to be really in-our-face obvious.

Charles: We really need more of those "Clean or Die" signs.

Danielle: Yeah. I think that line item needs to stay in place for as long as this continues. Does that make sense? The new normal, I put there. Want to dive in?

Charles: I want to have a discussion about this. It going to be maybe another year that this is going on, and we need to figure out what we're going to do during that year. We need to find some way to continue our mission in some capacity, and to have some degree of resources of the space available to people. Current members can already show up, but we need to have some arrangement. We took a big step backwards this week, but as everything else opens up, we need to have a plan, even if it's reduced capacity or online, we just need to have a plan for that next year.

Danielle: Discussing next steps, let's go virtual. It's time to get the creative crew together and discuss ideas and ways to go about showcasing and moving forward virtually. There's tons of potential without inviting people into our basement, terrible idea. Mentioned in several emails, that we have to not accept memberships, while this is going on. I outlined those reasons in email. We are a social experience and community, and that's what differs from gym membership or other equipment-based clubs. That whole process of screening, both on our side and their side, is completely lost now that we've had to cut that social aspect. So, we can't determine if they're a good fit and they can't determine if we're a good fit for them.

Charles: The problem with just giving up on that is, you're literally talking about no new members until 2022, probably.

Danielle: We don't know yet.

Raj: I don't think that's realistic, Charles.

A discussion about vaccines is had, and that it could very quickly become feasible to open up again.

Charles: If we're going to lock our doors until this is over, that could still be a very long time.

Madeline: I think it would be smartest for us to plan for the worst possible timeline, in case everything goes wrong in every possible way, and it isn't safe to have people physically join until 2022 or whatever, we should have at least a backup plan for that.

Tiffany: Here's what will happen. If we don't take on any new members, if it is a worst-case scenario or a middle-case scenario, and we don't do anything to take on any new members until, let's say, this time next year, May, June, July, whatever, we're going to continue to lose members. We're down to 76 now; we've lost Jose; and we're going to continue to lose income, and we're going to fold. So there needs to be some -- Charles is absolutely correct that there needs to be some kind of "We need to do something."

Danielle: Right. That's what I'm saying; there needs to be change. What he's saying is, "If we just sit here and close our doors," and that's not going to happen. We're not just going to sit here with locked doors. There is absolutely a way to maintain, even build a supportive community, without giving people unfettered 100% access to out property and financial without being able to vet them first, as through our bylaws process.

Our bylaw process is not valid because of this pandemic; our basic space is nonfunctional. Our membership social structure is not functional right now. That does not meant hat we cannot build and support a supportive non-member community, and you know that. We just have to change our outlook. That could be virtual workshops, pop-up workshops, spaces that have infrastructure and staffing, to support things. That could be all sorts of things; that could be virtual classes, talks, all sorts of things, outreach that I've done all over the place. We have the capacity to support community; we just have to change. We can't accept memberships like they used to be, because that's also what we can't do.

Charles: You're saying we can adapt everything else, we can virtualize everything else except the membership process, and that's not --

Danielle: Not everything, but some things. We can't virtually do the laser experience. I'm saying some things, we can adapt.

Madeline: One thing I was hoping to bring back Threadsday Thursday as a Zoom meeting for the time being, potentially as an organized craft-along, where I would pick a small project. Give people an Amazon link where they can buy materials if they don't already have them ahead of time, and then show them in real time how to make it over Zoom. Small soft-goods crafts, I feel that's easier for people to do from home than woodworking. I feel like there could be ways to bring that LVL1 experience to people through this.

I also feel that if this new normal lasts as long as it possibly could, I wouldn't be opposed to, if I get to know somebody through those kinds of events who is interested in becoming a member, I feel like it shouldn't be completely out of the question for them to apply for membership, even just virtually, even if they're not necessarily going to get access to the building. We all have access to the building right now, but how many of us are actually using it the way that we used to? So, just to support the organization, maybe.

Danielle: I understand. I just think this is not truly representative of the LVL1 experience. And that it is disingenuous to say that this would be an appropriate time for someone to characterize this as the LVL1 experience.

Charles: It's going to be representative of the experience for the next six months to a year.

Danielle: Yes, it could be a while.

Charles: After six months to a year, if the experience changes and they don't like it, they can cancel their membership. There's nothing wrong with that.

Danielle: That's true. But at the same time, there's nothing to say that we can't set up a support system, a way for people to financially support us without having full membership available.

Charles: And the other thing here -- and I like that we're throwing ideas out. Just because our bylaws say that membership is a certain way, that's not set in stone. We've had bylaw amendments every other year. So if we need to tweak the bylaws, if we need to tweak the membership process in the bylaws, we can do that. We just need to decide what we want to present to the membership and have some coherent thing to present when we do it. So that's an option.

Danielle: I don't think it's fair to sell people on membership, when what we're presenting to -- membership that is, right now, an empty basement full of tools. And if people -- a basement that is empty of the social experience, just full of tools. And present it to them as the LVL1 difference. It does not sound genuine by any means.

Tiffany: It's not the LVL1 difference; it's just --

Raj: Shouldn't that be up to the individual to decide?

Tiffany: Yeah.

Charles: Yeah.

Raj: Maybe they don't want the social experience; maybe they just want the tools.

Tiffany: Right. They just want to --

Discussion dissolves into talking over each other.

Raj: We're not selling the experience; we're selling a membership to a hackerspace; how they utilize it is up to them.

Charles: A lot of our members --

Danielle: In addition to the other things, I was saying. There is no management of the space, because we rely on people to manage the space. Again, it's a zero-accountability system, because nobody is really looking after them. The probation period could go by, and no one will be vetting them at this point.

Charles: And again, if we need to change the vetting process, that's an option. That's something we can put on the table. It requires the rest of the members to vote on it, but it's something that can still be on the table.

Danielle: But the thing is, this ultimately is temporary. This is not a final deal. This is adapting to a temporary situation. You understand what I mean by that, right? We are adapting.

Charles: A year is a long temporary, and we can do things like extend the probationary period. There are options like that, that are out there.

Danielle: But there's no reason to. That's the thing. It's just -- we can do all sorts of stuff, without undermining our membership process and any of our contracts. There's no reason to do that.

Tiffany: The reason would be declining income.

Danielle: There's no reason to turn down income, or even --

Andy: Your income's not declining.

Jim: I did the rough calculations a while back. We can go two years without any membership at all. So, we've got enough money on hand to do two years of paying our bills without any membership at all. I don't think money is that critical right now.

Charles: When do we void our budget?

Jim: We've got 8 more, 9 more people, to lose, before the budget goes away. But that doesn't mean we can't spend money. I mean, we still pay the bills, even if we don't have a budget. We can still pay all the basic bills and maybe some supplies for two years, and that's a rough guess. It might be longer than that, if we still have some members. We could go on indefinitely if we have a small cadre of members and the money we have right now.

I think we should look at this instead of a U-turn or a right turn on the road; this is an ultimate route, and I think we should think of it as a growth opportunity that we're being forced into a new and different situation. And we should make the best of it, and not think of it as a temporary thing; think of it as, we're going to integrate this into our personality when it's over.

Paul: I like that approach, Jim.

Jim: What we have now and we had before can be melded into what we create now. And if we have online presences, like my church, we're all completely online for sermons until at least September and maybe longer, nobody in the sanctuary. And we have a member who joined from Atlanta and has pledged money; she was a member years ago and she's going to be a member from Atlanta.

In some fashion, we could do that cooperatively with other makerspaces. When, like Tiffany has another workshop, which was hugely successful, with the acrylics, and we could have an online presence and have people there in the classroom eventually, and 10 or 12 people doing it in the classroom and then we could have a camera there and up on the wall we could broadcast 10 or 15 people from other makerspaces, and they could have their supplies and be doing their own and show us, and we could show them. So, it could become part of our personality instead of an alternate personality and then go back to the original. I think that's an opportunity for growth.

Danielle: Yes. Kevin pointed out that there is an item on the grant, I think it was, from the grant where we got the laser, it was years ago, it was a thing that was budgeted for but we never bought it. It was a camera that followed you as you moved, something like that; and it was entirely for virtual classes. It was ignored and never bought.

This is an opportunity for growth. Think of the livestreams we could have. People would totally support this, donate to this. We can get a community around this without trying to rewrite or undermine our normal membership process. Get our regular members engaged. Don't try to add new ones. Just get the strong, form a community and keep going until we can get out space open again, like it normally is.

Also, keep piling on the virtual things, because we want to get everybody engaged as much as possible.

Tiffany: I have a couple things on that. First off, I think that the money for that camera was the money that was spent on the laser, but don't quote me on that. Second off, I've been trying to get LVL1 onto YouTube; like, it would be so cool if we were making videos of different things that are happening and YouTubing them. Everybody is watching YouTube videos; that would be a really cool presence for us. And then, the third thing is, this Saturday night, I have spent $150 for a resin kit to take an online resin class that I want to do down at the space and record and Zoom, and then also put on the space's YouTube channel. So, there's a beginning to the virtual thing that we're talking about, if you want to throw a calendar thing on there. People can't come to the space and join, but they can come to the Zoom and join, and watch me do a geode with an online class that they can also follow, out of Texas. So, that's a thing that's happening this Saturday.

Jim: Yeah, we could have classes where people design their curriculum around a certain project, like on the laser or something, and you could mail parts to the people that are not there, and they could get them in the mail and they could do it with you right in the class.

Tiffany: And we could do LED things that way.

Jim: Then Andy could have 50 people in a class.

Tiffany: And not a single one in the same room.

Charles: As we've said, this is going to continue for a while, so that's not something that we really need to decide tonight, but I want to continue the conversation in the future.

Jim: Attacking it in a positive manner is a good thing. Saying we're going to keep the doors closed, it makes me sad.

Danielle: It's terrible. It's not about locking the doors and going away. That's terrible.

Tiffany: I miss our Friday night socialization something fierce.

Danielle: Everybody does, yes. I'll send an email on the members' list, like, "who wants to be in on this," and "who wants to help come up with one?" Like, if we get a Discord or a Twitch or whatever who wants to be there, just live-streaming what you're doing, like live-streaming soldering, and live-streaming wood work. And developing a community that's maybe not been able to get down to the space that's been wanting to support us and just see a taste of this.

So let's do that. Let's do a moratorium on memberships; let's push everybody to --

Charles: We don't need a total moratorium on membership.

Jim: No.

Tiffany: Agreed.

Charles: Like I said, we can table this. We can all think on this some and table this discussion for next month. But we should definitely move forward in building a virtual community, because I think we all agree on that part. But the rest, we can circle back to next month. It's almost 10:00 and we've still got another big thing on the agenda to get through.

So, let's move on to the Bridgeport mill. The first thing is, Danielle, you had a report on what we know so far about the mill.

Danielle: Yes. Kevin basically sent us a pretty succinct conclusion.

Charles: Are you referring to the document that included Patrick?

Danielle: No, I'm talking about the summary. Kevin did some calling around to companies. He got back one quote. It was well over $2,000 for a professional crew to come in and do it, just lift and drop. The other option was pick up some materials that we would keep afterward to lift it and move it ourselves. And Patrick and a few of the metal guys have come together for a really good solution. I trust them about that. So I think it's a very good plan.

Tiffany: That solution is also about half the price of the estimate of the rigger.

Danielle: Yes. I noticed that the other Jim, from Hive13, offered a solution, it was a DIY that linked to a video that said, "Don't try this at home."

Charles: We're not at home; we're at the space.

Danielle: So I think this is a good Option B. I was going to propose a vote tonight, that we just buy it using emergency funds and then use the FAP to reimburse the emergency fund.

Charles: So, yeah, that was suggested, and we can do that. I mean, Patrick invited us to do that in his FAP, so I think everything is above board, as far as that goes.

Tiffany: So, if we want to conduct a vote, I guess we can do that real quick; do we want to do that?

Charles: Are we generally in agreement here?

Raj: I think the solution where we purchase the equipment and do it ourselves and retain the equipment, I think that's the way to go; it's the most economical, it's the most practical. We've moved it multiple times; I don't think we need an outside crew charging us double for what we can do with the right equipment.

Paul: Do we have enough people committed to actually do the work, if we get the equipment?

Tiffany: There are at least three committed to do it. I believe it's Larry Richardson and Patrick and I think David was the third.

Andy: I'll help out.

Raj: Also, this is an authorization to spend the funds. If we don't have the people to do it, we don't have to spend it. This is really just an approval if we want to use the money.

Tiffany: Well, I think we do have the people to move it.

Andy: We'll have plenty of people to do it; I wouldn't worry about that.

Paul: Working around industrials my whole live, we don't want people who think they know what they're doing, but don't know what they're doing, on this job. I think we can have confidence in the people mentioned.

Charles: I have faith that Patrick would not have proposed this if it was just the Three Stooges down there moving the mill.

Raj: I have complete faith that it will go perfectly.

Charles: All right. Let's go ahead and do this. So, Patrick has a FAP, and the Board is voting on the authorization to spend emergency funds according to that FAP, which will be reimbursed by the FAP if it passes, and if not, we'll deal with that at that point. But, we're voting to authorize the expenditure of those funds from the emergency fund according to the FAP.

Raj: What's the dollar amount? What's the actual amount?

Tiffany: $1145 or $1155, and the FAP is for $1,200, just in case shipping comes in a little higher than $200.

Charles: So we can authorize the 1,200 and if shipping is less, then good.

Tiffany: Then we spend less.

Jim: Do we know where they're shipping the equipment and who's going to bring it in? Where is it going?

Charles: It's going to Patrick's, is it his work or his house?

Raj: It's going to his work; they've got a loading dock at his work.

Andy: He's going to work, and then they'll get a truck and bring it in. Will be easier to deal with it that way.

Tiffany: We have access to a couple of different pickup trucks to get it from Patrick's work to LVL1.

So, let's take a vote real quick. President.

Charles: Okay. Are done with the discussion? Okay. So, the vote is to authorize the expenditure of $1,200 from the emergency fund, according to the FAP that Patrick has on the members' list right now. I'll call roll; I'll start with the directors. Madeline?

Madeline: I'm in favor.

Charles: Paul?

Paul: Yeah, I'm in favor.

Charles: Raj?

Raj: Vote yes.

Charles: Jim?

Jim: Yes.

Charles: Tiffany?

Tiffany: Yes.

Charles: Danielle?

Danielle: I'm in favor.

Charles: And Grand Moff votes yea, so it passes unanimously.

Tiffany: Okay.

Charles: Yay, we did something.

Tiffany: We did a thing. I will add that I don't know exactly what the number for quorum is right now, but it is either 25 or 28. We are down to 76 members; and then, it is half of that, and then we subtract the 21 who did not elect to join the quorum in January, and so that gets us down to, I'm not sure exactly, but we're between 25 and 28.

Charles: We need to double-check that the ones that suspend their membership weren't ones that suspended their vote.

Tiffany: Right. So, I'll get that list together.

Charles: That's that item. So, on to round table. Anybody have anything new that needs to be discussed?

Danielle: Weeelllll.... No, I'm kidding.

Charles: Going once, going twice, we're adjourned at 10:06.

Meeting concludes at 10:06 pm.

Andy: I've been raising my hand. Would you mind if I bring the one Prusa home and work on it and get it running? Danielle: That sounds good, right, you-guys? Tiffany: No problem. Rock on. Please. Andy: Thank you. Tiffany: And thank you. Danielle: You're awesome, Andy.