O/D Meeting 03/06/2012

Attendees

• Officers and Directors present
  • President - Chris C.
  • Treasurer - Mark E.
  • Brad L.
  • Josh W.

• Officers and Directors not present
  • VP Jon C.
  • Secretary Tim M.
  • Director Dan B.

• Members present
  • Jose C.
  • Joe P.
  • Brian W.

Minutes taken by Josh

Level One Directors Meeting 3-6-12

• Chris finished the Kentucky Secretary of State Annual Filing updated with current Directors.

• Directors insurance.. Mark forgot to check on this, but it is now on his TODO list.

• 501c3 status.. No response from Directors on status email sent out by Chris at the beginning of Feb. Chris mailing Secretary of State the Articles of Incorporation amended with Articles of Dissolution as necessary for 1023 filing. Deadline for Federal 1023 response is still May 1st, with assurances from our IRS agent that we can file for another 30 or 90 day extension if necessary.

• 1023 being readjusted this month with help from Center for Nonprofit excellence, then lawyer.

• Providing public access to tools, space, open source, learning materials, etc.

• Haven't heard anything else from Jon regarding qualms with 501c(3).

• Original Founders wanted a 501c3 as seen in Articles of Incorporation. Been voted on twice already. Once to pursue 501c(3) and again to approve the $850 in funds for filing. Continuing with 501c(3) filing as per member request.

• If there is further disagreement about pursuing 501c(3), encourage those opposed to bring it up to the membership for a vote. Membership decides things through votes and it's the actionable thing to do.

• Keep drama off the members list. 90% of members hate it and just want to work on stuff.

• School Factory being worked on by Joe P.

• Bring up School Factory Fiscal Sponsorship to membership to vote on. Championed by Joe to propose the vote. Does School factory own the equipment?

• Complaints about Director openness. Open Director Meetings. Minutes are posted on a wiki. On the one-hand members hate having drama pushed on them through membership list. On the other hand, members want to know everything that's going on. Brian says there's no way to please everybody. We are still a small group, and if someone wants to know about something they can ask privately, ask in meetings, or ask on the mailing list. This is the way it's always been done and Directors answer questions whenever they are asked. It's valid to ask questions about transparency, but they are not a major issue as we have lots of direct ways to address it. Weiz and Jynn are mentioned as having concerns about transparency, though neither attended the Director's meeting upstairs and were downstairs at weekly meeting.

• If entered into Fiscal Sponsorship, donated assets on books as property of School Factory… Only in instances of tax deductable donations, but prepare for members to not like it. Not necessarily a deal breaker though, considering the benefits.

• Mark wants to see more working groups. First brainstorm ideas, then vote. Succeed. Adopted as a cultural identity. People get blowback for changing LVL1 environment without notifying members of changes. See: workbench rearrangement, light switches, etc. Encourage members to give advance notice of planned changes so people don't get bent out of shape about it.

• LVL1 Blog Post of success stories per Josh.

• Inspection

• More rails to finish the deal. Handicapped bathroom… Electricity in the workshop..

• Don't ever allow the doubled-up plug strip, inspectors hate that.

• No Christmas lights, inspectors hate that.

• Big Room cleaned up from last month, but slowly sliding back to disarray from people leaving stuff out in the floor.

• Need to repaint the graffiti out front with white paint.

• Brad has taken over the LVL1 Store.

• Money seeded to store from general funds in year 1. It is coming online. Jeff gave back $619 and change.

• Brad promising free passive components and wire.

• Plans to include new materials in the store for laserable plywood, acrylics, arduino kits, maker shields, atari punk console kits.

• New building stuff

• Chris says best option is still keeping current location for another year, but worth checking out all options whenever they are offered. We know 814 Broadway will make more money for the landlord *some day*, so we should always know to be looking for a fairly permanent lease option.

• Chris called landlord twice in the last month regarding stove hook-up gas line. He says he'll get it hooked up, but hasn't followed through yet. Landlord guaranteed a lease extension for another year.

• Marc V mulling purchasing warehouse space on Lytle for Louisville BioDiesel. Would provide rental opportunity to LVL1. Across from Portland recycling, close off of 71 exit. People would have issues with the sketchiness of the parking lot. Chris has video of the space. Any future potential depends on Louisville Bio taking the plunge and haven't heard any updates since the tour.

• Terry B recommended G@nt Hi11 Realtor have some form of building. It’s a tech building downtown and another on Shelby Street. Will check it out later this month.

• Aaron Conway Bought the Mammoth 10th and Broadway. Huge warehouse space, artists studios, nice guy. People living in the building is always a red flag though. Potential for conflict between residents and 24/7 hackerspace noise is a solid no-no in hackerspace Design Patterns.

• Looking for that sweet spot.

• Metro..

• Ted Smith wants to do a city hackathon (or anything really)… Missed Code for America in Feb..

• Membership marketing was a goal at last month's O&D meeting.. Good outreach with Louisville Science Center and U of L E Expo. Keep it up.

• Mark still needs to check on banners. Haven't heard anything from Jon on business cards for Officers and Directors.

• Bylaws..

• Joe P wants to work on a Succession plan for next year. Chris and Mark both are going to hit 3 year term limits. Brian could pull a Putin and get back in, since he isn't an Officer this year. Need to make sure we are able to transfer leadership smoothly. Chris is already trying to lessen his load by not continually reminding Officers of duties (to encourage them to remember) and not picking up dropped projects. Hopes to force distribution of responsibilities with this strategy.

• Makership UofL got 0 applicants. Cindy extended the deadline and is working to reach out more.

• Potentially needs some salvaging. Possibly promise professional position. Chris wants to leave it to Cindy, as it's her research grant and U of L faculty are the ones in charge.

• Jose doesn't want LVL1 to be a dumping ground for speed school students.

• Brad’s coop boss shot him in the nipple. It was a side effect. Attending Swat training was mandatory.

• NO ALCOHOL TO MINORS NO ONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18. Monitor this carefully with influx of new younger visitors. Could get out of control really quick and shut us down.

• Did you hear the one about the paranoid dyslexic? He thought he was following everyone.