Board Meeting Notes 2016-02-16

Board Meeting Minutes
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Meeting Start:

Attendance

• Board Members
  • Ray
  • Jennie
  • Justin
  • Lyn
  • Dave
  • Michael
  • Simon

• Other Members
  • Andrew C.

Agenda

• Check talk page for board meeting notes, see if any discussion on the agenda took place
• Consent Agenda
• Committee Reports
• Read mail
• Financial/membership report
• Review the PayPal and banking transactions
• Member leaving reason reports
• Check RT queue
• New business
  • Volunteer Liability
    • Our volunteers may not have adequate liability protection.
    • Proposed Action
      • Consider adding a Volunteer Accident / Liability policy.
      • Select a board member to investigate the cost of acquiring such a policy.
    • Relevant information
      • We rely on volunteers to fulfill our mission.
      • Fear of liability has been raised as a reason some people are reluctant to volunteer.
      • Volunteers at PS1 are not covered by our liability insurance. (by my reading)
      • Some members may not have or wish to rely on their own liability insurance.
      • We compensate our area hosts, volunteer authorizers and other members (member points).
      • We don’t have 501 (c) 3 status. Which would make us eligible for additional protections under state law.
      • We would like to provide all reasonable protections to our volunteers.

I have placed some informational links on the talk page.Mskilton (talk) 09:57, 16 February 2016 (CST)

• Preparation and budget for Birthday Party
• Closed session discussion

• Old business
  • Bylaws Revision
    • There are many problems with our bylaws. Several attempts at revision have faded away.
    • Proposed Actions
      • Create a committee to work on a revision of the bylaws.
      • Agree on the purpose and scope of the committee.
      • Actively recruit and appoint a committee chair.
      • Select a board member to act as liaison.
    • Suggested Language
      • The task of this committee is to conduct a comprehensive review our current bylaws, to propose amendments and to prepare a vote proposal to be put before the membership. The committee members will be decided by the committee chair. It is suggested that the committees would have no less than three and not more than seven members. It is requested that committee provide a report before each board meeting that can be read into the minutes. This can either be done via email which we will read during the board meeting, or it can be done in person so that our secretary can record your comments.
      • A board liaison will be appointed to work with the committee and legal consul to insure the fitness of any proposed changes.
      • The committee is urged to consider the following.
        • Seek advice from those who have worked on this in the past.
        • Solicit public involvement from time to time.
        • Set a proposed timeline for completion of the task.
        • Publicly list their members. Mskilton (talk) 09:57, 16 February 2016 (CST)

• Old Todos:
  • Justin will scan and email IRS letter to lawyers
  • Justin will write response to IRS
  • Justin will contact area hosts with info about new donation box accounting approach
    • Jennie messaged area hosts
    • Money has been collected counted and now in the lockbox
    • Andrew is going to try to put new lock on the box
    • Jennie to follow up with area hosts and collect keys
  • Justin will contact lawyers to see if they have any input on writing privacy policies
  • to do
  • Justin will notify new hot metals authorizer - done
  • Justin will ask Dave to bounce incoming emails sent to invalid @pumpingstationone.org instead of sending them to info@ done
    • Dave handled this. Mail to invalid address now get a response email
  • 4221 - trygve wants to redeem point-
    • Justin to email to see if he wants to upgrade or a discount
  • #4215 Justin will write Flying Broomstick and send a check
  • Brian to email Jason to follow up on question about communication with lawyers in RT - done
  • Brian will call epilog to find out if we owe them money - done
  • Brian will take care of paying Smolk
    • There were two payments to Paul in Quickbooks
  • Dave will handle 4183, 4179, 4219, 4186 member point tickets done, 1 pending response
  • Ray will order new business cards
  • All Directors to to email Ray with the contact info you want on business cards
    • Have Brian, Simon, Justin, Michael | Lyn sent the info
    • Need Jennie, Dave to send business card info to Ray
  • Lyn will take on increasing parties & fun events at the space 'ongoing and 1st one planned for 2/14/16'
  • Michael will take on itemize new items since Feb 2015 and any new large equipment that we buy throughout the year - 95% done
    • Done & ongoing project
  • Simon will write new email templates for member upgrade and welcome back - done
    • Simon to add a downgrade template

• • Dave to scan IRS letter

• • Jennie to handle next board meeting - Justin will be out of town

Minutes

Discussion on previous minutes

• Approved

Consent Agenda

• N/A

Committee Reports

Reports from Committees

• Space Planning Committee
  • New construction & Permits
  • What construction is necessary?
    • New wall to segregate new woodshop location from dust-free areas
  • How much will things cost - construction, permits, etc.
• Planning committee will ultimately present three options for selection

• Safety Committee
  • On hold until move-in date
  • Dan said the lighting will work.

Mail

• IRS: Need to file form 990-N
  • Justin will communicate with lawyers & Accountant

Financial Report

• Chase Checking: $39,692.34
• Chase Savings: $73,642.17
• PEX: $8,941.57
• PayPal: $5,630.95

• Recent transactions:
  • Electric bill
  • Flying Broomstick
  • RT4155 - Dean paying Paul Smolk
  • Andrew reimbursed ~$100 for 3-D printer filament

• Justin will pay new Flying Broomstick invoice

Membership Report

• Starving Hackers: 266
• Full Members: 110
• Total Members: 376
• Quorum: 37

Member Leaving Reason Reports

(Reports going back to January 24)

• Moving away for a few months, hope to rejoin on return
• Too busy, not using space often enough, not able to get certified on shopbot & lasercutter
  • Want to be able to sign up once to get into authorization queue for popular tools
  • Idea for daypass membership
• Not enough time to work on projects or visit
  • Plan on returning when more free time
• Leaving Chicago
• Leaving town
  • Take Sam Reicks name off the shelf
• Bought my own tools and not many projects right now
• Live far away, don't use the space enough
• Need more internal motivation to use the space
• Traveling too much right now, use PS:One for wifi and social interactions, probably back in a month or so
• Too busy to spend time in the shop
• Not using my membership much

• Multiple reasons:
  • Live far away
  • Couldn't get authorized on Shopbot - didn't want to attend two classes
  • Went to Milwaukee hackerspace instead
    • Feels like more people in Milwaukee
  • Suggest more security:
    • Want the wifi more secured, separate subnets for public & private use
  • New member procedures
    • Didn't want to come to different meetings
    • Orientation felt redundant with Tuesday meeting
      • Discussion:
        • The join page is the single portal
        • Front wiki page isn't easy to navigate for new members
        • Form a committee to look at welcome process
  • Authorizations
    • Want more times available for authorizations
  • Storage - would like more space
  • We could suggest storage spaces nearby
  • Dues
  • Milwaukee is $40 / person

RT

• 4291 - pay Flying Broomstick
  • Justin to pay Flying Broomstick
• 4294 - Nomination for Trygve to earn a member point
  • Passes unaninimously
  • TODO
• Simon spend
  • Dave will refund for Simon member point
• 4242 - Ray member point request
  • 1 point for 5 members
  • 6 in favor, 1 abstain
• 4085 - Dave owes a member point
• Dave will handle member point tickets

New Business

Volunteer Liability

• Directors are covered, volunteers are not
  • Specifically area hosts & authorizers
  • Question for insurance agent - does our current coverage this?
    • Michael's research suggests no
  • Justin will introduce Michael to Insurance agent
  • Michael will investigate getting coverage
  • Michael will look into options
  • Andrew has a recommendation - will send to Michael

Birthday Party budget

• $1200 budget for the whole year. Don't spend more than half.

Bylaws Revision

• Proposal: Create committee, recruit a chair, select board member to be liaison
  • Lawyers need to be involved and approve bylaws
  • Lyn will lead the search for a committee chair
  • Unanimous vote to approve creation of the committee
  • Justin will be the liaison between committee and lawyers

Welcome Committee

• Simon will start email thread