Minutes:Board Meeting Minutes 20161213

Agenda for 12-13-2016

Chair: Jamie

Officer Reports

Treasury and Budget Report for Nov, 2016

• Financial Grade: A
• Emergency: $14K Checking : $8.2K BNektar: $1.7K Paypal: $.9K Total: $21.1K
• Boosted Emergency to $14K (up $3K)

Action Item: Terry - Send out the 2017 Budget to the members' list.

Secretary

• Nothing to report

President

• Heard from company in downton Royal Oak - interested in having some of their employees becoming members for personal and business use
  • We don't have any corportate memberships, but their employees are welcome to join
  • They're an IoT company
• Discussion with B. Nektar over part of the building continues

Senior Vice President

• Nothing to Report

VP of Activities & Classes

• Not present

VP of Membership-Onboarding

• Updated new member documents (cheat sheet and signature form) are now in use - haven't uploaded to Wiki yet
• Sent emails to people who started but never completed the membership process within the last year
  • Sent 15 messages, got 4 replies so far
  • Most cited long times between submitting and getting feedback along with lack of clarity on next steps
  • At least one of them is still interested in joining
• Now calculating timing metrics for the membership process using the new tracking sheet. Here are a few averages:
  • ~1 week Phase 1 submision to Phase 2 invitation
  • ~6 days to complete Phase 2
  • ~1 month submission of Phase 1 to process completion (closer to 3 weeks, outlier dragging this out)
• Been taking scholarship "applications" over email
  • Two so far, will put together a formal form by next board meeting

Membership numbers

VP of Membership-Member Advocate

• Nothing that's required any action in the past month

Old Business

Summary of Board List/Slack Discussions since last meeting

• Discussion with Fernale and Oakland County about potential grants
• Discussion over zone storage and whether to condense elab overflow
• Fire safety in hackerspaces
• Leora isn't moving this year, yay!
• Zone Coordinator nominations for Bike and CNC zones
• Joining the Nation of Makers which has formed since the meeting in DC earlier this year
• Issues surrounding the disposal of a member's storage plot due to confusion over how the ongoing storage cleanout works

Past Action Items

• Donations from a SEO company and a member to have links to their companies posted on the sponsors page
• Shirts have been reordered. Thanks Mike W!
• Zone coordinator meeting is planned for January but a date must be set

Action Item: Leora - Set a date for the Zone Coordinator meeting

• Discussion with landlord/b. nektar is ongoing
• Evan has gotten two zone coordinator positions filled. Still a few more to fill.

Action Item: Evan - Continue announcing and filling open positions

• Board members identifying necessary and nice-to-have tasks that wouldn't cause problems if not done. An exercise in thinking about things we want to do to fix and improve things. Think about things that are currently be done but may not be done.
  • Jamie - necessary task: support the membership in being the ones who run the space. Nice-to-have: better-define officer duties
  • Matt G - Nice-to-have: micromanaging zones that we think need help. Necessary: keeping the webserver running
  • Terry: necessary: handlnig "HR" type issues when there are problems with people
  • Charlie: necessary: Board should be careful with the perception of members of how decisions are made and how they impact the space. nice-to-have: make sure that the as much the space as possible is accessible to as many members with various impediments as possible
  • Evan: necessary: represent the will of the members, such as acting on survey results. nice-to-have: optimize all the floorspace
  • Leora: necessary: off-load and involve more people to spread the load. nice-to-have:
  • Mike: necessary: Watch for officers/coordinators/members who may be burning themselves out and get them help before burnout happens. nice-to-have: police and dispose of clutter/graveyard/lost-and-found
  • Jan: necessary: watch for people who have the potential to be really good contributing members.
  • David: make sure there is transparency around appointments of zone coordinators and officers
  • Ken: remove the mystique around zone coordinators, make volunteering as a coordinator/co-coordinator less daunting.

New Business

Fire Safety

• Discussion in response to the fire at an art collective in Oakland, CA
• Have requested members who volunteer with fire safety to do a once-over of the space
• Get a KnoxBox for the space
• Could we hold a fire drill in the space?
• Do we need to have any kind of smoke alarm or fire alarm system? Cert. of Occupancy says we are fine without sprinklers or alarms.
• Could we have an officer in charge of safety?
• Should take this to the general membership.

Proposal:
Add $400 to 2017 budget to get a KnoxBox for the space
Moved by Jamie, Seconded by Evan
7 Ayes / 0 Nays
Result: PASS

Action Item: Evan - Find someone to buy/install knoxbox

Communication Overhaul

• We need to clearly define what i3's communication mediums are and what is vs what isn't expected reading.
• We need to communicate our expectations.
  • Plan for clearer communication.
• If it isn't documented & pushed, it doesn't exist.

Open position appointments

• Mike Williams as Bike Zone coordinator - he had to leave, we will follow up on this later.

Action Item: Matt G - Follow up with Mike W about becoming bike zone coordinator

Proposal:
Appoint Thad as co-coordinator with Jim for CNC Zone
Moved by Evan, Seconded by David
7 Ayes / 0 Nays
Result: PASS

• Treehouse Coordinator
  • Dana Nelson - volunteered to maintain the existing zone as is
  • Karianne Gottschalk - volunteered to convert half of treehouse to leatherworking space and keep half as general hang-out space.

Action Item: Jamie - Follow up with Dana and Karianne about them their specific plans for the treehouse

Reserving Equipment Time

• Ethan P: Can we look into a way to handle reserving various equipment, as its sometimes very daunting to get access to a popular machine, like a laser cutter or 3D Printer.
• Mike F: Thoughts from someone who coordinates one of those tools:
  • Will this create yet another communication channel members need to monitor? Or should '"Bob is using the laser" from 2-4pm on Saturday' just be on our public facing calendar?
  • Does all usage need to be scheduled? Otherwise it must be made clear that for specifically scheduled times, the machine is expected to be in use, but for unallocated times it's still going to be a crap shoot like it is now.
  • How well can you estimate how long you'll take? How long in advance do you need to add yourself to the schedule?
  • My big worry with a system like this is that there seem to be maybe a dozen users who would really like there to be a schedule. Is it reasonable to expect all the other users to bend to their will?
    • What I expect will happen is there will be a small group who use and monitor the schedule while there will be many more "outsiders" who are either merely aware a reservation system exists or else don't have any idea about it at all.
    • This would be very similar to our current problem that for many members, when you tell them "It's on the wiki" or "Look in the CRM", all they hear is "I'm not going to help you, and the answer is only availble on a system that only a small clique of 'insiders' know how to use".
    • Thus, there would be a small group of "insiders" who are essentially allowed to say "Please get off the equipment, it's my turn." "Says who?" "It's on the schedule."
    • As we have seen with the Wiki and the CRM, this kind of interaction is very polarizing and leads a lot of members to feel at best cut off and at worst ostracized froup the group.
  • I'm not actually opposed to allowing tool reservations, but I'm very hesitant to add another communication channel and/or another barrier between members who are more and less tech savvy.

Communication Overhaul

• We need to clearly define what i3's communication mediums are and what is vs what isn't expected reading.
• We need to communicate our expectations.
  • Plan for clearer communication. Low traffic announce and member discussion lists, and high traffic public/community list for general discussion.
• If it isn't documented & pushed, it doesn't exist.

Action Item: Mike - Add the Equipment Reservation and Communication Overhaul discussions to the next member meeting.

Maddie's Stuff

Charlie: This discussion wasn't settled at the last member meeting. Evan needs to apologize for what happened.

Evan: Agrees he will apologize because he feels bad about what happened. No because how how the system worked. This was all done with a clearly designed process.

Leora: We should take extra care when doing things that impact a person's possessions. We need to decide how to be inclusive in the diversity of members who do and don't use email.

Evan: The email announcing the cleanout was seen but not read/interpreted correctly. It was unexpected that, after doing the cleanouts for months, that anyone actively using their storage plots would not have seen it happening. It's hard to draw the line at how many notifications are sent and how much advance notice is needed.

Leora: we should try to balance our communication to

Charlie: back to the original topic: Evan needs to apologize.

Evan: I will, but not because of the policy. It was written so that it did not matter who did the cleanout. Most plots had things left in them. The policy was written so that the cleaner does not need to make value judgments about what was left in the storage plot.

Scott: What was lost? Is there a way to replace what was lost?

Leora: A lot of art projects that are mostly irreplaceable.

Jan: We should make future changes/implementation for the storage policy taking what happened to her into strong consideration.

Vivian/Thad: We could set up a gofundme to help her out which would be a lot nicer than just a gift certificate or something.

Vivian: Vivian would like to call people when their storage is being cleaned out in the next implementation of the system.

Evan: There isn't a storage policy in place anymore, and he hasn't decided whether to pursue a new policy next year.

Space & Zone Discussions

Floor Plan

• Floor plan change to eliminate 'e-lab overflow' and provide the west mezzanine for relocation.  
• Charlie: we need to make sure it's used for long term storage. We shouldn't expect members to go up there to get things.  
• Matt/Evan/Mike/Jamie: We agree, but this is telling a zone coordinator do his job. There seems to be agreement that some things in overflow actually belong in the elab and a lot of much less useful stuff that can be put away.  
• Evan: From Nate's recent email, he seems to be on board with this, given some help.  
• The expected timeframe for this to be completed is 1-2 months.  

Proposal:
Eliminate elab overflow from the floorplan within 3 months (3/14/2017).
Moved by Evan, Seconded by Mike
5 Ayes / 2 Nays
Result: PASS

• Leora doesn't like the word eliminate, but we'll see how things go.

Member Storage

• Storage policy that member storage is for members and not zones (just acknowledging what is currently true and enforcing it)
• This is already in the standing rules, but some zones use plots for zone storage.

Proposal:
Designate West mezzanine to be used as overflow zone storage
Moved by Evan, Seconded by Jamie
7 Ayes / 0 Nays
Result: PASS

Meeting Metrics

• Time completed: 9:54
• Funds appropriated: $400
• Attendees: 14

Action Items

Action Item	POC
Add the Equipment Reservation and Communication Overhaul discussions to the next member meeting.	Mike
Find someone to buy/install knoxbox	Evan
Follow up with Mike W about becoming bike zone coordinator	Matt G
Set a date for the Zone Coordinator meeting	Leora
Follow up with Dana and Karianne about them their specific plans for the treehouse	Jamie
Send out the 2017 Budget to the members' list.	Terry
Continue announcing and filling open positions	Evan

Proposals

Proposal	Moved By	Seconded By	Aye	Nay	Result
Eliminate elab overflow from the floorplan within 3 months (3/14/2017).	Evan	Mike	5	2	PASS
Designate West mezzanine to be used as overflow zone storage	Evan	Jamie	7	0	PASS
Add $400 to 2017 budget to get a KnoxBox for the space	Jamie	Evan	7	0	PASS
Appoint Thad as co-coordinator with Jim for CNC Zone	Evan	David	7	0	PASS

Attendance

(Board members in italics)

1. Jamie B
2. Mike F
3. Matt C
4. Evan A
5. Mike W
6. Leora D
7. Matt G
8. Ken G
9. Jan H
10. Terry W
11. Thad J
12. David H
13. Charlie R
14. Andrew M

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