O/D Meeting 9/30/2014

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Attendees

  • Officers and Directors present
    • Brad, Danielle, Joseph, Nathan, Ben, Cherith, Tim M.
  • Members present
    • Joe L., Charles L., Tom D.

Old Business

  • LVL1 Moving
  • Community Foundation Grant Fund Usage
  • Makership Program Briefing
  • LVLUp Kids Group
  • Board of Advisers
  • NEED MOAR WORKSHOPS
  • LVL1 Announce Email?
  • LVL1 Membership Application Processing
  • Digitizing Waivers

New Business

Minutes

Old Business

  • Meetings will happen every 2 months still
  • Move
    • Officially moved into new building and moved out of the old building
    • Did overpay on electricity
    • New business of up
  • Community Foundation Grant Fund Usage
    • Still need to use funds
    • Laser money spent mostly. Letting money ride in case we need a repair. In december will spend on extra mirrors and lenses.
    • Cleaning service was in Monday morning. Targeting $200 a month. Floors were swept.
      • Took out trash. Cleaned surfaces.
      • Need dusting. Dust still falls from the ceiling.
      • Things left out moved to Lost and Found.
      • Modify as we go along.
    • CNC funding
      • Going to FAP for some things. Buying mods for ZenBot, Shapeoko, and funds for software.
    • Air conditioning upgrades
      • Need to spend it to get AC going in the stair well
      • What's required? Drag over, electric hook up, mounted correctly, ducting through the window. Cannot modify bars in window.
      • Single 220 line about 10 ft. Have some duct work in boneyard.
      • Classroom needs some sort of airflow for the class room. Can pay for wall unit by selling dehumidifier and AC.
      • Spend $500 for the basic work then
    • Shelving:
      • Need to use shelves that were used for boneyard for large member projects.
      • Do we need to close off the boneyard? Yes. Call it "LVL1 storage" and add signage. Joseph will add signage.
    • Open hours support
      • Directors and officers insurance paid for.
      • People brought up safety issues.
      • Would like to hire a part time worker to support
      • Employee would have to be a member
      • Tax implications? Raises complications. Service firms offer help with this. Insurance hurdling. Additional unemployment insurance approx $600.
      • How much for this: $5000 originally, $1000 spent for insurance.
      • Should spend the money and try it versus not spend the money and have it disappear.
      • Does not fall under 1099.
      • Can we require a person to be a member in order to fulfill? Spend money to figure out.
      • Employee would contribute to safety and cleanliness which helps our mission statement.
      • Should find a lawyer for counsel.
  • Makership
    • Averaging 1 a month. Not as active as it once was.
    • Do we vet the application if only one submitted? Historically, no so long as the reqs are met.
    • Who determines validity? Ben so far.
    • Jose believes we need to vet the applications even if one is submitted.
    • It's fair to judge for feasibility.
    • Had to turn down some for safety reasons.
    • If no volunteers: compel directors to review it?
    • Need more community involvement to help Makership recipients?
    • Rally call when it ends? Yes. Send it to member only list so they can chime in? Maybe not. Cast an interest email first and then let people volunteer.
    • Ultimate decision: Need more members to vet submissions even if one is submitted.
    • Funding: Approx $300 left.
    • Need more advertising outside the traditional areas (like LVL1)
    • Ben is the operator
    • Do we publish success stories? Herman has succeeded. Need more help getting the write up.
    • Is it worthwhile for Alex to help promote this via success stories? Yes.
    • Benefits of the mentor: need them to help publish the results.
    • Migrate the story from success to what people learned? Might work to reduce intimidation factor.
  • LVLUP Kids Group
    • Transferred energy to Girl Scouts makerspace
    • First open meeting & make. Labels everywhere.
    • Group seems to be growing. Culture being developed. Strangers becoming friends.
  • Board of Advisors
    • Still think this is a fantastic idea
    • Unpaid professionals giving advice to board of directors
    • Typical structure for nonprofits
    • Idea: advisors have no binding to compel directors to follow advice
    • Joseph: Should we pitch to members? How do we elect and appoint?
      • Idea: selected by directors and confirmed by the membership. Established in July, directors in January so you have overlap.
      • Size and selection: Lawyer, accountant and a priest (lol). Marketing person.
      • Do we codify the roles explicitly? Floating advisors? Max number cap? Maybe. Need some way to shoo away poor performing advisors.
        • Any one at any time can submit a full member vote. Can do this to remove advisors.
      • Do we allow advisors to be a member? No. They must drop.
      • No other hackerspaces have a board of advisors. Other organizations vary. Have not been able to find educational 501C3 membership based groups as examples.
      • Daniel example: Bylaw was not codified; but advisors helped with specific topics
      • Likely should not be in bylaws.
      • Joseph believes that members should be shielded from this chaos since it really doesn't affect them.
      • General feeling: membership should have no say.
    • Codification? Could work both ways. Some see the continuity and trust can be built across a group. Others believe the directors should seek advice on an as needed basis.
  • Workshops
    • Need more workshops. No one had ideas.
  • LVL1 Announce Email
    • Google group announce. Only sends notifications. Low traffic and low drama.
    • Mail Chimp. Brad will make this
  • LVL1 Membership Application Processing
    • Need to reconcile. Need more documented workflow.
    • Nathan will take care of this next week.
  • Digital Waivers
    • Daniel has been scanning them in.
    • Stored on Google drive. Secure area on server.
    • Conversation prior to signing waiver is important and needs to be incorporated.

New Business

  • Door access
    • Need help running CAT5 cable
    • Should be done this week
  • Laser cutter got set up & fixed
  • Member list: Joseph will help Brad tomorrow reconcile the list
  • Treasurer Duties
    • Brad completed a number of tasks needed
    • Proposed reform: need two signatures per check
    • Need one transaction per year to prevent dormancy of saving account
    • Need to add more funds to savings account to buffer higher expenses
    • Paypal had a $2000 limit and hindered some spending for moving
    • Need an audit on our books
    • Now have access to Quickbooks for non profits; gnucash will be eschewed
    • Prudent to hold off reimbursements until after the election
    • Do not have record of cash, check, and months in advance
    • Have books been audited in the past? No.
  • ConMen
    • Danielle is really thankful for the Maker Faire effort
    • Needs email & group to handle these duties.
    • How will LVL1 funds be used to help pay for supplies?
      • If over $100, FAP for it.
      • New banners. Fliers. How is that covered? Likely FAP.
    • Group seems to have great support.
    • Bravo to Justin and his effort at manning DerbyCon.
    • Extra kits can be used for soldering workshops.
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